MEXICO CITY, LAST LEG OF JOHN PAUL II'S TRIP

VATICAN CITY, JUL 30, 2002 (VIS) - On the occasion of John Paul II's visit to Mexico City, capital of Mexico, we offer some information on the metropolis and its civil and ecclesiastical situation.

Mexico City, the old Tenochtitlan (City of Light) was founded in 1325 by the Mexica tribe. When the Spaniard Hernan Cortes conquered and destroyed it in 1521, it was a rich and thriving city, the capital of the Aztec empire. Reconstructed quickly, in 1530 it obtained the same privileges as Burgos, then the capital of Castilla, and in 1551 a university was founded.

The city is situated on a plain, previously a lake, at an altitude of 2,240 meters. The Aztecs connected the islets of the lake in order to form one island. The successive drainage of the water caused the fusion of the island to firm ground. With the passage of time, it was been discovered that the subsoil is unstable. In addition, the consequences of the many earthquakes that have affected the area have been dramatic; in the last earthquake that occurred in 1985, 10,000 people died.

This metropolis, one of the oldest in the Western hemisphere, has been and continues to be the center of Latin American culture. Among the monuments that are remnants of the Spanish Empire are the hospital, the Church of Jesus, the cathedral, as well as the French and Spanish colonial neighborhoods. The National Anthropological Museum also stands out.

After Mexican independence in 1821, the city was claimed by Emperor Agustin de Iturbide. When Iturbide abdicated in 1824, it was chosen as capital of the republic. Because of war with the United States and conflicts among liberals and conservatives, American troops occupied Mexico and subsequently French troops in 1863. Maximiliano of Habsburg, named emperor of Mexico, lived in the country until he was overthrown by liberals and the republic was restored in 1867, with Benito Juarez as president. After the revolution of Maximiliano Zapata in 1910, the city was transformed rapidly and in approximately 20 years, its population grew from 350,000 to one million.

Presently, Mexico City has 8,489,000 inhabitants, although 19.5 million people live in the urban area around the federal district. Expansion of the city is blocked by the mountains that surround it. On the outskirts, there are numerous residential centers to the south and west and 'lost cities' or shanty towns to the north. A third of the industrial production of the country comes from industries in the Federal District.

The archdioceses of Mexico City has 8,591,000 inhabitants, of which 7,283,712 are Catholics. There are 425 parishes, 211 churches or missionary stations, 473 educational institutions and 136 charitable centers, 712 diocesan priests, 635 religious priests, 1,630 non-priest male religious and 4,251 female religious. The archbishop is Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera and the apostolic nuncio is Archbishop Giuseppe Bertello.

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