MEXICO
The Telegraph (United Kingdom)
More than 300,000 Catholic pilgrims gathered in the central Mexican city of Silao on Sunday to hear Pope Benedict XVI say Mass in the country on his first official visit to Latin America.
By Josephine McKenna
9:54PM BST 25 Mar 2012
Benedict held the ceremony in the city’s Bicentennial park in the shadows of the Christ the King statue, a 72-foot monument which recalls the Catholic uprisings of 1926 – 1929.
After landing in the park by helicopter he was presented with a large black sombrero as he greeted fans in his Popemobile before preaching a message of peace in a country reeling from the violence of the drug cartels.
“We ask Christ, to reign in our hearts, making them pure, docile, filled with hope and courageous in humility,” Benedict said in his homily.
Despite the enthusiastic reception Benedict received on Sunday, his visit to Mexico has been overshadowed by accusations from victims of sexual abuse who have accused the Vatican of protecting a notorious Mexican priest for years.
Victims of sexual abuse were angry that the pontiff had no plans to meet them after he had met victims of paedophilia on his previous official visits to the US, Germany, Malta, Australia and the UK in 2010.
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