Pope Francis blasts drug violence, scolds bickering bishops, stumbles and falls, but still thrills Mexico City

MEXICO CITY — The visit was unprecedented — the world's first Latin American pope meets with Latin American political and religious leaders, and celebrates Mass at the center of Latin American Catholic devotion. So the visit came with a sense of great anticipation of what mark Pope Francis would try to leave on his latest trip to the new world.

By the end of the pope's whirlwind tour across Mexico's capital, the journey had established a theme as significant and complicated as the Catholic Church itself.

The pope's addresses on Saturday, to political leaders, bishops and the faithful at Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, were a study in peace and adoration. But both the pope's remarks and the mood of the crowds outside were defined by the drug violence that has long permeated parts of Mexico.

Again and again, for different audiences, the pope honed his message.

To state leaders, he cautioned that a selfish society becomes "a fertile soil for corruption, drug trade, exclusion of different cultures, violence and also human trafficking, kidnapping and death."

From the assembled Mexican bishops, he demanded "prophetic courage" to heal ravaged areas.

At evening Mass, he sought hope for "the suffering but resilient hearts" of families that lose children to violence and crime.

As the popemobile whisked Francis from one speech to the next, crowds stretched from one horizon to the other. The air remained festive, even jubilant, and peaceful, as thousands of police offices, security guards patrolled the streets and military police in green uniforms stood on guard holding large automatic weapons.

Nearly all were there foremost out of spiritual devotion to the leader of the Catholic Church. But as the pope spoke, he seemed to tap into the frustration many Mexicans have expressed here over the past two days: a pervasive sense of government corruption and the inability of authorities to bring years of cartel violence under control.

Over and over, Mexicans along the city's endless avenues repeated the same hope. They are desperately praying that the pope's visit will bring peace to Mexico, by raising the spiritual conscience of government leaders and of those involved in crime and the drug trade.

“These are good people, and they turn bad. Why? Because of the economy,” said Raybel Paredes, 35, a chauffeur, as he waited for the pope to pass by.

He lives in Ecatepec, the same densely populated working-class suburb where the pope will lead Mass on Sunday and is likely to advance a similar theme.

But instead of waiting to see the pope near his home on Sunday, Paredes and his wife and several other families members left at 4 a.m. They arrived in Mexico City by 5 a.m. to secure a good spot along the route.

Paredes said he felt safer coming to Mexico City, where he knew there would be plenty of police, than seeing the pope in Ecatepec. There, Paredes said, kidnappings, murders, extortions, robberies and assaults are so common most people do not leave their homes after dark.

"Leaving your house to go to work is an adventure," Paredes said. "You don't know if you are going to make it back alive.”

The surprises and joys of a papal visit

The pope also showed little reluctance to go off-script. As is his custom, he delivered at least one passage that turned heads and is likely to make headlines in Catholic media.

During his speech to Mexican bishops at Mexico City’s cathedral, he offered off-the-cuff advice to address infighting and political jockeying among the group that governs the church in the country.

“If you have to fight, fight. If you have to tell each other off, say it," he told the bishops. "But do it as men, face to face. Just be sure to maintain the unity of the episcopate. But as men of God, pray together, and if you crossed the line, ask for forgiveness."

It was the first colorful remark during his five-day visit, which will take him from one end of the country to the other. It was not expected to be the last.

Saturday’s focus, however, was on the violence that has left thousands dead, according to various estimates, and has displaced thousands more.

His first speech of the day was given to government officials, including state governors, at the country's National Palace, the seat of the executive branch.

Pope Francis, referring to himself as a “missionary of mercy and peace,” asked them to work for the common good and reject "individualism."

“Each time we seek the path of privileges and benefits for the few to the detriment of the good of all, sooner or later the life of society becomes a fertile soil for corruption, drug trade, exclusion of different cultures, violence and also human trafficking, kidnapping and death, bringing suffering and slowing down development,” he said.

Later, he spoke at Mexico City's cathedral, the seat of church authority in the region. He urged Mexico's bishops "not to underestimate the moral and antisocial challenge which the drug trade represents for Mexican society."

He urged them to engage with families, and community, political and security groups.

“The magnitude of this phenomenon, the complexity of its causes, its immensity and its scope … does not allow us as pastors of the church to hide behind anodyne denunciations,” he said. “They demand of us a prophetic courage as well as a reliable and qualified pastoral plan.”

As he spoke, crowds lined the road leading to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a major pilgrimage site named in honor of Mexico's beloved and deeply venerated patron saint. The faithful believe the Virgin Mary appeared at the site, on Tepeyac Hill, to a peasant named Juan Diego in 1531, sending a message of hope that has reverberated ever since.

Hugo Vazquez, 48, a developer who traveled alone two hours from the state of Tlaxcala, said he is not directly affected by drug violence but shares the same frustration as those who are.

He hoped the pope’s visit would spark change in Mexico and  "an end to the crime, the violence, because the criminal organizations are affecting the whole country."

How would the pope's visit bring about change?

"Change depends on individual persons," he said. "There is no guarantee that one person can change people but (through his words) he can bring people closer to their faith so they do change."

On the side of the street, Bishop Bryan Bayda, 54, opened his cellphone to show some pictures. There he was at the Vatican shaking hands with Pope Francis. Bayda has shaken hands with the pope seven times, he says — six with Pope Francis and once with Pope Benedict — as a bishop in the Ukrainian Catholic Church.

He wanted to be here, in Mexico City, to witness the pope pass by.

"I like the excitement of the people," he said.

Jacoba Luisa Hernandez Vega, 65, sat on a stool in the shade, with her granddaughter's arms wrapped around her shoulders.

She leaned forward and tenderly kissed a color photo of Pope Francis.

When the pope's Jeep finally passed by, she was overcome with emotion.

"I cried and cried and cried," she said. "Out of joy. Mostly out of joy."

She has had two heart attacks, her legs hurt and she doesn't have strength anymore to walk very far.

"I asked the pope for my health," she said. "And also that he forgive all my mistakes."

A final grand appearance for the day

During his homily at the evening Mass, Pope Francis expressed his support for families affected by the ongoing violence in Mexico.

He spoke about how, through the apparition in 1531, God awakened hope among people even today. He said he hoped that would also be the case today with “the suffering but resilient hearts of so many mothers, fathers, grandparents who have seen their children leaving, becoming lost or even being taken by criminals.”

Francis may have more words for families affected by violence during the last stop of his visit, in Juarez on Wednesday.

Organizers there confirmed that 1,200 tickets to the Mass there, near the U.S.-Mexico border, were set aside for victims’ families, including some of the parents of the 43 college students missing and presumed dead in Guerrero state.

As the end of his first full day  in Mexico drew near, Pope Francis already showed signs of fatigue.

He was energetic and commanding during the first two events, including the 47-minute speech to the bishops.

But hours later, during the Mass at the basilica, his voice sounded tired and strained at times.

Still, crowds outside hung on his words. Pope Francis has an unmistakable voice, soothing and wise. Many worshippers outside the Basilica watching the Mass on a jumbo TV bowed their heads in prayer, with eyes closed, hands clasped, and their knees on the bare cement of the street.

Near the end of the Mass, Mexico City’s archbishop thanked Pope Francis for his visit to the basilica. Though the pope couldn't hear them, the people watching outside on the applauded at the line.

After the Mass, the pope startled onlookers. He stumbled and fell upon a chair as he was getting ready to pray in private before the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The moment, captured on camera and broadcast around the basilica and the square, left attendees gasping.

But another priest was able to catch him and help him back up.

The pope would leave, more quietly, less visibly, in a closed car instead of the open popemobile.

Even before he did, many of the thousands who had lined the streets had already gone. But many others remained, waiting for the man who could draw 2 million from across Latin America for a simple, luminous glimpse.

As they stood in the gathering dusk, the streetlights along the broad avenue popped on, all at once. The crowd, bathed in light, let out a collective "Ooooo."

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