AMERICA/MEXICO - The Episcopal Conference has announced the program of the Pope's visit

Mexico City (Agenzia Fides) - "On December 12, 2011, His Holiness Benedict XVI announced his intention to undertake an apostolic journey, before Easter, in Mexico and Cuba. After the consultations with the Government of the United States of Mexico and the Episcopal Conference which had invited him, and after a detailed study on behalf of those responsible for the Pope’s journey’s, in collaboration with federal authorities and members of the Government of Guanajuato, the Holy Father has approved the program that was presented to him". This is how the Episcopal Conference of Mexico statement begins (ECM), of which a copy was sent to Fides, about the program concerning the Papal visit in the country.
According to the text, the Holy Father will arrive at the Leon airport, Guanajuato, on the evening of Friday, March 23, 2012, and will be officially received by the President of the United States of Mexico, Felipe Calderon Hinojosa, by the Episcopal Conference and the Archbishop of Leon. On Saturday evening, March 24, there will be the official meeting with President Calderon Hinojosa. The Holy Father will greet and bless the children and the faithful gathered in Plaza de la Paz, Guanajuato. On the morning of Sunday, March 25, the Holy Father will celebrate Mass in the Bicentennial Park, in the town of Silao, on the foothills of Cubilete, on top of which the monument to Christ the King is found. On this occasion he will meet the faithful representatives of all the dioceses of Mexico.
In the afternoon on the same day, the Holy Father will visit the Cathedral of Leon for the Vespers Prayer and to deliver his message to all the Bishops of Mexico and the representatives of the Episcopate of Latin America and the Caribbean.
On 26 March in the morning, the Holy Father will continue his journey to Santiago de Cuba, after greeting the highest civil and religious authorities of Mexico. "Let us pray together to Our Lady of Guadalupe for Pope Benedict XVI’s first apostolic visit to Mexico, which is reason for hope and the confirmation of faith in the Lord," concluded the statement signed by the President of ECM, Mgr. Carlos Aguiar Retes, Archbishop of Tlalnepantla, and the Secretary General ECM, Mgr. Victor Rene Rodriguez Gomez, Auxiliary Bishop of Texcoco. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 02/01/2012)