18 February 2016, The Tablet

South of the border

by Austen Ivereigh

 
Two great themes of the Pope’s Mexican pilgrimage were praise for indiginous peoples and solidarity with the millions heading north for a better life in the US From the rolling green hills of Chiapas to the dystopian desert of Chihuahua, Pope Francis’ five-day Mexican odyssey has felt at times like a journey into the heart of the pontificate itself. By turns blistering and mystical, Francis among the great crowds seemed to take on every issue facing Latin America: corruption, violence, immigration, the drug cartels, the failure of politics, the illusion of wealth and the destruction of the planet.On his first morning, last Saturday, he became the first pope to enter the National Palace – once the home of the Spanish viceroys, but in modern times symbol of the religion-h
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