BBC News: "Everything from incense and candles to huge portraits of the Pope are flying off the shelves. Unfortunately for Benedict XVI, they are pictures of his predecessor, John Paul II - a man still held in great affection by Mexicans. The Pope's Mexico visit is part of his inaugural Latin America tour.
Mexico has the largest Roman Catholic community in this part of the world. Inside the cool of the cathedral, the priest compares the street sellers with the moneylenders in the New Testament that Jesus drove from the Temple." read more
The MexicoBlog of the Americas Program, a fiscally sponsored program of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), is written by Laura Carlsen. I monitor and analyze international press on Mexico, with a focus on security, immigration, human rights and social movements for peace and justice, from a feminist perspective. And sometimes I simply muse.
Showing posts with label Pope Benedict. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pope Benedict. Show all posts
Mar 23, 2012
Will the Ruling Party Get a Benedict Blessing or Backlash?
TIME Magazine: "If you were Mexico’s ruling party, and your presidential candidate was down by double digits in the polls three months before the election, you’d be looking for some divine help too. So President Felipe Calderón’s conservative National Action Party (PAN) is hoping the visit from Pope Benedict XVI, who arrives in Mexico today, March 23, will help resurrect the chances of its prez contender, Josefina Vázquez.
The PAN is the Roman Catholic standard-bearer of Mexican politics, and the Pope’s three-day itinerary is confined to one of Mexico’s most Catholic and PAN-ista states, Guanajuato." read more
The PAN is the Roman Catholic standard-bearer of Mexican politics, and the Pope’s three-day itinerary is confined to one of Mexico’s most Catholic and PAN-ista states, Guanajuato." read more
Mar 22, 2012
Pope Benedict's Visit: Pope's visit to Mexico refocuses attention on narco-church relations
The Guardian: "Father Erasmo Dorantes doesn't like talking about the new modernist church with a 20-metre high metal cross within his parish in a working-class barrio of the central Mexican city of Pachuca.
"All I do is say mass there every Sunday," he says. "What's done is done and I don't have relations with those people."
Those people are the Zetas drug cartel, or more specifically the group's leader, Heriberto Lazcano. Photographs of a plaque thanking the kingpin for building the church caused a scandal when they were published in a national newspaper in October 2010.
The scandal has faded but the plaque remains – an uncomfortable reminder of the influence of the drugs culture in the Mexican Catholic church that Pope Benedict XVI called on the country's bishops to eradicate shortly after he was elected in 2005. As they prepare for his first visit to Mexico, beginning on Friday, the bishops are keen to play down the issue." read more
"All I do is say mass there every Sunday," he says. "What's done is done and I don't have relations with those people."
Those people are the Zetas drug cartel, or more specifically the group's leader, Heriberto Lazcano. Photographs of a plaque thanking the kingpin for building the church caused a scandal when they were published in a national newspaper in October 2010.
The scandal has faded but the plaque remains – an uncomfortable reminder of the influence of the drugs culture in the Mexican Catholic church that Pope Benedict XVI called on the country's bishops to eradicate shortly after he was elected in 2005. As they prepare for his first visit to Mexico, beginning on Friday, the bishops are keen to play down the issue." read more
Pope Benedict's Visit: Guanajuato Streets Decorated to Welcome the Pope in Mexico
Prensa Latina News Agency: "Mexico, Mar 22 (Prensa Latina) The main streets of the city of Guanajuato have been decorated with flags of the Vatican, blankets, posters and images to welcome Pope Benedict XVI, on the eve of his arrival in Mexico.
Signs read Welcome His Holiness, together in hope, Benedict XVI with us, among others.
Also, in many shops, hotels, restaurants and other public places, there are maps of the Pope's route and information on the activities of Benedict XVI during his stay in that city." read more
Signs read Welcome His Holiness, together in hope, Benedict XVI with us, among others.
Also, in many shops, hotels, restaurants and other public places, there are maps of the Pope's route and information on the activities of Benedict XVI during his stay in that city." read more
Mar 21, 2012
Pope's Visit to Mexico: Pope's Mexico Trip Clouded by Legion Victim's Book
ABC News: "Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Mexico this week to a very public reminder of one of the Catholic Church's most egregious sex abuse scandals: A new book says internal Vatican documents show the Holy See knew decades ago of allegations that the Mexican founder of the disgraced Legion of Christ religious order was a drug addict and pedophile.
The documentation has been compiled in a book "La voluntad de no saber" ("The will to not know"), which is co-authored by Jose Barba, a former Legion priest who along with other priests in 1998 brought a church trial against the Legion's founder, the Rev. Marciel Maciel, for having sexually abused them while they were seminarians." read more
The documentation has been compiled in a book "La voluntad de no saber" ("The will to not know"), which is co-authored by Jose Barba, a former Legion priest who along with other priests in 1998 brought a church trial against the Legion's founder, the Rev. Marciel Maciel, for having sexually abused them while they were seminarians." read more
Drug War: Mexican drug cartel 'honors' Pope with truce
Russia Today: "Notorious Mexican drug cartel the Knights Templar has announced a short truce to welcome Pope Benedict XVI arriving in Mexico later in the week.
The cartel has put up at least 11 signs in several towns across the country, announcing the ceasefire in their battle with “competitors” – other drug cartels, and with law enforcers.
"The Knights Templar are holding off on all violent action, we are not killers, welcome to the Pope," a Mexican official paraphrased one of the signs to AFP news agency. The banner was seen in the town of Irapuato in Guanajuato state in Mexico" read more
The cartel has put up at least 11 signs in several towns across the country, announcing the ceasefire in their battle with “competitors” – other drug cartels, and with law enforcers.
"The Knights Templar are holding off on all violent action, we are not killers, welcome to the Pope," a Mexican official paraphrased one of the signs to AFP news agency. The banner was seen in the town of Irapuato in Guanajuato state in Mexico" read more
Mar 18, 2012
Movement for Peace: Javier Sicilia travels to Rome to ask Pope to "embrace the body of Christ"
La Jornada: "The leader of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity (MPJD), Javier Sicilia, traveled to Rome last night to deliver to the Vatican a letter to Pope Benedict XVI, prompting him that, instead of allowing himself to be covered up by the "media show" that will assemble around him during his visit to the country, that he embrace "the suffering and murdered body of Christ" that now exists in Mexico and Central America.
At a press conference, the poet announced that he was making the trip in a personal capacity, accompanied by four others, and he read the letter that Joseph Ratzinger will receive through the Vatican Secretary of Justice and Peace, Mario Toso.
"I come to Rome to say that Mexico has lived in suffering for five years. [...] Beloved Benedict, Mexico and Central America are now the abandoned body of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane and crucified between two criminals," Sicilia says in his letter.
"When you arrive in Mexico, we want to remind you that, behind the media and political scenery, which they put up around you to erase the body of Christ, those who claim to represent the word of God and those who claim to represent the word of the people keep it kidnapped in the dock of the accused," he added.
For this reason, he requests that the head of the Vatican "embrace, before anyone else, the one, suffering body of Christ and and console it," because otherwise, if he cannot charge the Mexican Church to assume her role as mother, "hope in the deep communion of the resurrection will be destroyed."
Asked about his reasons for going to Ratzinger, when this public figure has not shown his commitment to the victims of pedophilia, the writer stressed that he is going in search of meeting him on a spiritual plane, regardless of their political positions.
"Sometimes political games prevent the Pope from speaking from his heart, and we forget that he is a head of state. We do not want to see the head of the Vatican State, but the Vicar of Christ on earth," insisted Sicilia...." Spanish original
At a press conference, the poet announced that he was making the trip in a personal capacity, accompanied by four others, and he read the letter that Joseph Ratzinger will receive through the Vatican Secretary of Justice and Peace, Mario Toso.
"I come to Rome to say that Mexico has lived in suffering for five years. [...] Beloved Benedict, Mexico and Central America are now the abandoned body of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane and crucified between two criminals," Sicilia says in his letter.
"When you arrive in Mexico, we want to remind you that, behind the media and political scenery, which they put up around you to erase the body of Christ, those who claim to represent the word of God and those who claim to represent the word of the people keep it kidnapped in the dock of the accused," he added.
For this reason, he requests that the head of the Vatican "embrace, before anyone else, the one, suffering body of Christ and and console it," because otherwise, if he cannot charge the Mexican Church to assume her role as mother, "hope in the deep communion of the resurrection will be destroyed."
Asked about his reasons for going to Ratzinger, when this public figure has not shown his commitment to the victims of pedophilia, the writer stressed that he is going in search of meeting him on a spiritual plane, regardless of their political positions.
"Sometimes political games prevent the Pope from speaking from his heart, and we forget that he is a head of state. We do not want to see the head of the Vatican State, but the Vicar of Christ on earth," insisted Sicilia...." Spanish original
Drug War: Narcobanners appear before papal visit in cities of Guanajuato state
Excelsior: "In the midst of the security measures being taken before the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Guanajuato, to be held next from Friday, March 23 to Monday, the 26, several cities around the state woke up yesterday to find banners attributed to groups criminals. The messages were placed on pedestrian bridges in Leon, Irapuato, Salamanca, San Miguel de Allende, Yuriria, Moroleón and Uriangato, according to local police reports.
According to information provided by the authorities, the messages were attributed to the criminal organization known as The Knights Templar, based in Michoacan and with a strong presence in Guanajuato. According to the police report, the messages were intended to disassociate the group from any possible acts of violence.
On 22 January, the Archbishop of Leon, Jose Guadalupe Martin Rabago, asked that organized crime call a truce during the papal visit." Spanish original
According to information provided by the authorities, the messages were attributed to the criminal organization known as The Knights Templar, based in Michoacan and with a strong presence in Guanajuato. According to the police report, the messages were intended to disassociate the group from any possible acts of violence.
On 22 January, the Archbishop of Leon, Jose Guadalupe Martin Rabago, asked that organized crime call a truce during the papal visit." Spanish original
Drug War: Pope to tackle drug war in Mexico, issues in Cuba
AFP: " From the war on drug cartels in Mexico to reviving faith in Cuba, Pope Benedict XVI will address a series of burning issues in his first trip to Spanish-speaking Latin America beginning this week. On his 23rd visit abroad, the pontiff will tackle the declining number of Catholics in the region, the rise of rival religious movements such as Pentecostalists and what the church sees as the threat to family values.
The six-day programme, starting in Mexico on Friday, takes into account the frailty of the aged pope, who will conduct both political meetings and religious rites focusing on the marian figures of Mexico's Our Lady of Guadalupe and Cuba's Our lady of Charity." read more
The six-day programme, starting in Mexico on Friday, takes into account the frailty of the aged pope, who will conduct both political meetings and religious rites focusing on the marian figures of Mexico's Our Lady of Guadalupe and Cuba's Our lady of Charity." read more
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