Mexico City pulsing with excitement as pope lands
Thousands of people are jostling for spots along the route from the airport to get a glimpse of the leader of the Catholic Church.
- Security out in force early in the day
- Official events begin Saturday when 2 million are expected
- Many parts of the city are blocked off to the public
MEXICO CITY — First the breeze picked up noticeably giving life to the flags people held in their hands welcoming Pope Francis to Mexico.
An electrifying wave of excitement followed and then the pope standing inside the Popemobile came into view, sending a thunderous roar from the crowd up into the heavens.
Some of them had been waiting six hours or more just for a glimpse of the leader of the Catholic church.
"It was an emotion I can't put into words," said Maria Guadalupe Jaime de Legasti, tears filling her eyes. "My heart can't describe this emotion of love and mercy so full of peace for all the Mexicans."
That was at about 9 p.m. local time. The energy of the crowd already began to pulsate when word got around that his plane had touched down 90 minutes earlier.
"Ya llego! Ya llego!" people shouted. He arrived! He arrived!
Under extremely heavy security, the 12-mile route the pope took after landing at Benito Juarez International Airport had been filling up with people all afternoon.
His plane touched down about 7:30 p.m. local time and then he was scheduled to travel directly from the airport to the Vatican’s diplomatic headquarters in his popemobile.
Saturday, he will begin his first full day of activities on this his five-day journey to Mexico with a meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.
At 4 p.m. Arizona time the pontiff will celebrate Holy Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico's beloved and deeply venerated patron saint.
He will conclude the visit Wednesday with a Mass in Juarez, Mexico, near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Friday, security personnel and soldiers had already been deployed along the route by mid-afternoon in anticipation of the massive crowds expected to illuminate the pope’s route with the light from their cell phones.
Maria del Carmen Loaiza, 55, arrived four hours early, and was rewarded with a choice spot on the corner of Avenida Insurgentes Sur and Juan Pablo II Street.
From here, she was able to witness the pope drive by before making the last turn and driving two short blocks to La Nunciatura Apostolica, the Vatican’s diplomatic headquarters.
At least a dozen television reporters and camera operators staked out the same spot, including one with a giant boom that could capture a bird’s eye view as Francis drives by.
Loaiza traveled from Caborca, Sonora for a chance to glimpse the pope, meeting up with two sisters, 49-year-old Alma Loaiza, who traveled from Culiacan, Sinaloa, and 46-year-old Adriana, 46, who lives in the capital.
Throughout the afternoon, they unfurled the Vatican’s white and yellow flags, and chanted, “Franciso. Hermano. Ya eres Mexicano.” Francisco. Brother. You already are Mexican.
Already along the route children sat on the shoulders of parents. Others have brought their own ladders to stand on. Among the worshipers waiting were many church groups, identifiable by their matching T-shirts.
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Show of force
Earlier Friday, there seemed to be more police officers than pedestrians as 200 officers in dark blue uniforms stood at attention on the main road leading to the Basilica of Guadalupe, listening to instructions from a commanding officer before marching in formation to their posts.
The display offered a glimpse of the level of security that will be deployed around the Basilica when the pope arrives in Mexico City and then begins his official events on Saturday, including a Mass at the Basilica in the evening.
Nearby, men swept streets with giant brooms and freshly planted flowers bloomed near the gated entrance of the Basilica.
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A man walked by carrying shoe polish, his hands and face stained black. He said the pope will not be allowed to see the real Mexico because the government has spent weeks painting streets and fixing potholes to hide the poverty that many people endure.
“The government is giving a nice face to the real situation,” said the shoe shiner, Roque Tenorio, 28, who lives in Tepito, a working-class neighborhood known for its open-air flea markets and thriving black market. “The real situation is (expletive) up.”
“Let me tell you the real situation in Mexico,” Tenorio added. “The government fakes news and propaganda to create fear in the public’s mind so they can create solutions for the problems they created in the first place.”
The streets surrounding the Basilica were mostly empty, and many of the streets had already been blocked off in anticipation of the hundreds of thousands of people expected to flood this area alone on Saturday. Only people with tickets will be allowed into the grounds of the Basilica, which has already been sealed off from the public.
A family of seven walked away from the gates early Friday, disappointed to find the sacred site closed. They left their town in the state of Puebla at 3 a.m., to travel by bus four hours for their annual pilgrimage to give thanks at the Basilica.
“We didn’t know it was going to be closed,” said Trinidad Serrano Torres, 38, who was traveling with her elderly parents and her 3-year-old daughter, Joceline, making her first pilgrimage.
The 350 pesos, or about $18 each spent on bus fare was a small fortune.
“We are campesinos and don’t earn much money,” she said.
As they walked back to the bus station, Serrano’s mother yelled over her shoulder, “If you get in, please say a prayer to God for us.”
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Only sell what God wants
Near a store that sells religious items to pilgrims, Jose Luis Muniz, 42, hunched over under the weight of dozens of Virgin of Guadalupe bracelets hanging around his neck. He stretched out an arm to showcase dozens of silver crosses and rosaries for sale.
“Two for 10 pesos,” he said.
There were no customers in sight, but he was expecting huge crowds with the potential for mega sales on Saturday.
Will you sell a lot? he was asked.
“What God wants, nothing more,” he replied.
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Several miles away from the Basilica, banners with faces of the 43 students who disappeared in September, 2014 in Iguala, Guerrero hung from a memorial in front of the headquarters of the Attorney General’s Office on Paseo de la Reforma, one of Mexico City’s main boulevards.
On the ground, someone had placed an official poster of the smiling Pope Francis with a demand that the students be found alive, scrawled in black marker, “Aparicion con vida!”
According to news reports, Mexico's former attorney general said that local police illegally detained the students and then turned them over to the local drug gang Guerreros Unidos. The students were then allegedly killed and their remains burned.
The students, who have come to symbolize the more than 25,000 people who have disappeared in Mexico between 2007 and 2015, according to USA Today, are presumed dead but their parents continue to pray for a miracle that they will be found alive.
