Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Guanajuato (Agenzia Fides) - "I already know I am in a Country proud of its hospitality and anxious that no one feels a stranger in its land. I know, I already knew, but now I see and feel it very deep in the heart. I hope that many Mexicans who live outside their native country feel it too, but never forget and want to see it grow in harmony and in an authentic integral development ", with these words the Holy Father Benedict XVI finished his speech at the International Airport of Guanajuato on his arrival in Mexico.
The Pope was able to "do the sums," note local sources of Fides, because he knows that Mexico, with over 106 million people, also has about 12 million Mexican immigrants (in the U.S. alone there are 11 million). But the Pope talks to the people in Mexico, Latin America, to all the inhabitants of the continent, the third most populous country on the planet, home to over 900 million people.
The Holy Father has followed all the vicissitudes of these people who have emigrated, suffers violence, poverty (see Fides 22/03/2011, 01/12/2010, 06/03/2010) and the separation of families. For this he recalled in his words, the reason for the visit: "I come as a pilgrim of faith, hope and charity. I would like to confirm the faith of believers in Christ, encouraging them to consolidate and revitalize in it by listening to the Word of God, the Sacraments and the coherence of life. So they can share it with others, as missionaries among their brethren, and to be leaven in society, contributing to a peaceful and respectful coexistence, based on the incomparable dignity of every human person created by God, and that no power has the right to forget or despise. This dignity is manifested in an eminent manner in the fundamental right to religious freedom, in its true meaning and in its full integrity. "
Benedict XVI’s journey has just begun, notes the source of Fides, but Latin Americans have already perceived the task that the Pope gives them: to live with dignity and freedom, and to become "missionaries among their brothers and sisters". (CE) (Agenzia Fides 24/3/2012)
