BIOGRAPHY OF BROTHER PEDRO DE SAN JOSE BETANCUR

VATICAN CITY, JUL 30, 2002 (VIS) - On the occasion of the canonization of Blessed Brother Pedro de San Jose Betancur that will take place today at the hippodrome in Guatemala City at 9 a.m. local time (5 p.m. Rome time), in continuation we offer a brief biography.

Brother Pedro was born March 21, 1626 in Vilaflor, Tenerife, Spain. He left his country at age 24 and departed for America, arriving in Havana, Cuba, where he stayed for one year. In 1651 he left for Guatemala, passing through Trujillo, Honduras, and from there he began the journey on foot toward the city of Santiago de los Caballeros, Old Guatemala. When he arrived, he knelt down, kissed the ground and said: "I must live and die here."

On January 10, 1655 he presented his petition to enter the Secular Franciscan Order (Third Franciscan Order) and on June 11, 1656 he made his profession in the same order.

On February 24, 1658, Pedro bought a small house from Maria Esquivel for 40 pesos, the remains of which are in the 'Posada de Belen'. He converted it into an infirmary at night and installed an oratory dedicated to the Virgin which would later be used as a school for Christian doctrine and reading and writing for illiterate children and adults, as well as a hospice for the homeless. It is recognized as the first school to teach reading and writing in Guatemala. From 1658 on, he collaborated in his small hospital with the first Tertiary Brothers in founding the fourth hospital in the history of Guatemala and the first for convalescents in America and the world.

Brother Pedro called the oratory the 'Little House of Our Lady of Bethlehem', which would be the cradle of the new religious 'Bethlemite' order, the first native order in America.

The interior life of Brother Pedro and his devotion were centered in the great mysteries of the life of Christ, the Nativity in Bethlehem, the sorrowful Passion and the Eucharist.

On December 7, 1663, Brother Pedro requested official approval of Bethlehem Hospital from King Felipe IV.

On April 20, 1667, already seriously ill, he made his will in Bethlehem Hospital in which he requested to be buried in the Church of the Lord, St. Francis the Great in the chapel where the Tertiaries were buried.

On April 25, 1667, while looking at an image of St. Joseph in Bethlehem Hospital, he exclaimed, "This is my Glory," and he expired. When he died, he left his work and his religious family to the charge of Brother Rodrigo de la Cruz, duke of Talamanca and the ex-governor of Costa Rica, miraculously converted by the life and example of Brother Peter.

On May 2, 1667, eight days after the death of Brother Pedro, the foundation of Bethlehem Hospital was officially recognized.

On August 20, 1667, the first constitutions of the Bethlemite Brothers were approved. With this act, the new order of the Bethlemite Brothers was born juridically.

On July 25, 1771, Pope Clement XIV pronounced that Brother Pedro had practiced the theological and moral virtues to a heroic degree, declaring him Venerable.

On June 22, 1980, the Pope recognized Brother Pedro's sanctity and declared him Blessed. From that moment on, his spirit has been present in an extraordinary way in the 'Social Works of Brother Pedro' in Old Guatemala.

On July 7, 2001, the decree on the miracle for his canonization was approved by John Paul II.

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JOHN PAUL II ARRIVES IN GUATEMALA CITY

VATICAN CITY, JUL 29, 2002 (VIS) - John Paul II arrived at the international airport in Guatemala City at 3 p.m. (local time), where he was received by President Alfonso Portillo Cabrera. In addition, Guatemalan bishops, political and civil authorities and the diplomatic corp welcomed the Pope. Present at the welcome ceremony were presidents and prime ministers of the 6 other nations in Central America: Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.

In his speech, addressed to everyone who had come to greet him, the Holy Father manifested his joy on his third visit to Guatemala and recalled the character of Blessed Pedro de Betancur whom he will canonize tomorrow.

This celebration, he continued, "must be a true moment of grace and renewal for Guatemala. In effect, the example of his life and the eloquence of his message are a valuable contribution to the construction of a society which is being exposed to the challenges of the third millennium." Afterward, the Pope expressed the desire that the Guatemalan people, "thirsty for God and for spiritual values, anxious for peace and reconciliation, as much in their heart, as with neighboring peoples and brothers, that they may live in solidarity and justice and enjoy the dignity that they deserve."

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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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