Vatican City, 3 February 2016 (VIS) –
Next week Pope Francis will begin his apostolic trip to Mexico. From
12 to 17 February he will visit Mexico City, Ecatepec, Tuxtla
Gutierrez, San Cristobal de Las Casas, Morelia and Ciudad Juarez, and
will pray before Our Lady of Guadalupe. For the occasion, the agency
Notimex recorded a series of brief questions and expressions of hope
for the Mexican people in four videos, presented to the Holy Father.
The Pope responded with a video that will be broadcast today on the
Notimex website. The following is a summary of the questions and
answers. The images can be obtained from the Vatican Television
Centre.
Question: Why are you coming to Mexico?
What brings you to Mexico?
Pope Francis: "What moves me most
is this: what are coming to look for in Mexico? I will come to Mexico
not like a Wise Man loaded with things to bring, messages, ideas,
solutions to problems … I come to Mexico as a pilgrim, to look for
something among the Mexican people. … I come to seek the wealth of
faith you have, I come for that infectious wealth of faith. You have
an idiosyncrasy, a way of being that is the fruit of a very long
road, a history that has been forged slowly, with pain, with success,
with failures, with searching, but with a common thread. You have
great richness in your heart and, above all, you are not an orphaned
people, as you are proud to have a Mother, and when a man or a woman
or a people do not forget their Mother, this provides a wealth that
cannot be described; it is received and transmitted. So, I will go in
search of some of this in you. A people that does not forget its
Mother, the Mother who forged her people in hope".
Question: What does Our Lady of
Guadalupe represent for the Pope?
Pope Francis: "Security,
tenderness. Sometimes I am afraid of certain problems or something
unpleasant happens and I do not know how to react, and I pray to her.
I like to repeat to myself, 'Do not be afraid, am I not here, your
Mother?'. They are her words: 'Do not be afraid'. … I feel this,
that she is our Mother, who cares, protects and leads a people, who
leads a family, who gives the warmth of home, who caresses with
tenderness and who banishes fear. … It is an eloquent image, that
of a Mother like a blanket who covers and cares, in the midst of her
people. … This is what I feel before Her. … What I would ask you,
as a favour, is that this time, the third time I will be on Mexican
soil, that you will let me spend a moment before the image. That is
the favour I ask of you".
Question: How would you help us to face
the violence here?
Pope Francis: "Violence,
corruption, war, children who cannot go to school because their
country is at war, trafficking, arms manufacturers who sell weapons
so that the wars of the world can continue … this is more or less
the climate that we live in the world, and you are experiencing a
part of it, a part of this 'war', this part of suffering, of
violence, of organised trafficking. If I come to you, it is to
receive the best of you and to pray with you, so that the problems …
that you know exist may be resolved, because the Mexico of violence,
the Mexico of corruption, the Mexico of drug trafficking, the Mexico
of the cartels, is not the Mexico that our Mother loves, and of
course I do not wish to cover up any of that; on the contrary, I
would urge you to fight, day by day, against corruption, against
trafficking, against war, against disunity, against organised crime,
against human trafficking".
"'May you bring us a little
peace', one of you said. Peace is something that must be worked on
every day, and – to use a phrase that sounds like a contradiction –
it must be fought for, every day. It is necessary to combat every day
for peace, not for war. It is necessary to sow gentleness,
understanding, peace. St. Francis prayed, 'Lord, make me an
instrument of your peace'. I would like to be an instrument of peace
in Mexico, but with all of you. … And how is peace formed? Peace is
a craft, it is formed by hand. From the education of a child to the
care for an elderly person: they are all seeds of peace. Peace is
born of tenderness, peace is born of understanding, peace is born or
is made in dialogue, not in rupture, and this is the key word:
dialogue. Dialogue between leaders, dialogue with the people, and
dialogue among all people. … Do not be afraid of listening to
others, to seeing their motivations. And please, do not enter into
any traps to make money; it enslaves life in an inner war and takes
away freedom, because peace brings freedom. I come to ask the Virgin,
along with you, to give us this peace, so that Our Lady of Guadalupe
may give us peace in our heart, in the family, in the city, and in
all the country".
Question: What do you wish for from us,
and what are your hopes for us?
Pope Francis: "I come to serve, to
be a servant of the faith for you … because I felt this vocation …
to serve the faith of the people. But this faith must grow and go out
into daily life; it must be a public faith. And faith becomes strong
when it is public, above all … in moments of crisis. … It is true
that there is a crisis of faith in the world. But it is also true
that there is a great blessing and a desire … for faith to come
forth, for faith to be missionary, for faith not to be closed up in a
tin. Our faith is not a museum faith, and the Church is not a museum.
Our faith is born of contact, of dialogue with Jesus Christ, our
Saviour, with the Lord. … If faith does not go out into the street,
it is no use; and taking faith out into the street does not mean
merely a procession. That faith goes out into the street means that
we show ourselves to be Christians in the workplace, in the family,
at university, in college. … Faith wants to be on the streets, like
Jesus. … Where did Jesus spend most of his time? On the street,
preaching the Gospel, bearing witness. … Our faith demands that we
too go forth, that we do not keep Jesus confined to ourselves without
letting Him out, as Jesus goes out with us, so if we do not go forth,
neither does He. … Renewing the faith means going out into the
streets, not being afraid of conflict, seeking solutions to family,
school, social and economic problems. Faith has to be my inspiration
for my commitment to my people, and it has its risks and its dangers.
I would like to end with some of our Mother's words; through me, she
is saying to you, 'Do not be afraid of going forth, do not be afraid,
my child, I am here and I am your Mother".
No comments:
Post a Comment