Pope Francis heads for "historic" visit to heavily indigenous Mexican state
- hace 8 años
San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico, Feb 15 (EFE), (Camera: Hector Perez Soto).- The pope is heading Monday to the southeastern state of Chiapas for a visit with members of Mexico's indigenous population, a stop in which he will tout the fruit of native peoples' harmonization of their cultures with the Gospel.
In an interview with EFE, the episcopal vicar of the Tzotzil indigenous zone and parish priest of the town of San Juan Chamula, Pedro Arriaga, hailed the significance the Argentine pontiff's presence in a place such as Chiapas, "home to the excluded," saying it would be a "historic" day.
Chiapas, which borders Guatemala, is one of Mexico's poorest states, and its indigenous population (who account for 27 percent of its inhabitants) has been historically marginalized and neglected.
That state also is a point of entry for thousands of undocumented Central American migrants who try to make their way through Mexico to the United States in search of a better life.
Francis is "a Jesuit pope and in his spirituality the place where one follows Jesus is very important" and that is why he "places a lot of emphasis on going to the peripheries," Arriaga said.
"The indigenous communities, within their cosmovision, have a sense of recognizing the place, the soil, as their mother, and they feel that Pope Francis, as a missionary, is coming to set foot on Mother Earth," the Jesuit priest added.
During the Mass the pope will celebrate Monday in San Cristobal de las Casas before around 100,000 faithful, many of them Indians from other Mexican states and countries of Central America, a dance will be performed that will be "very refined, very delicate" because when it is danced it is an expression of "touching Mother Earth."
On the altar, Mother Earth will be expressed through painted replicas of "the Agua Azul waterfall, which is among the most beautiful natural sites in Chiapas," and the stairs of the Palenque archaeological zone, which will represent "the Mayan cosmovision," he said.
"The altar is very meaningful" because "it's from a community where Indians in San Cristobal de las Casas gather," and in the back there is a replica of the facade of the cathedral in that diocese, which dates back more than 450 years and is one of the oldest in the Americas.
Deacon Anselmo Guzman will proclaim the liturgy in Tzeltal, according to Arriaga, who said that during the ceremony the pope will officially authorize the use of the Nahuatl language in the liturgical texts, something that had already been approved for Tzeltal and Tzotzil.
During the ceremony, the pontiff "will not use the traditional incense in those silver thuribles, but instead an indigenous, clay incense burner," he said.
Yuam Pravia, a female member of the Miskito Indian community of Honduras who will attend the Mass, said she was confident the pope's visit would not be a mere ceremonial activity" but rather a genuine show of "inclusion" for the neediest.
In an interview with EFE, the episcopal vicar of the Tzotzil indigenous zone and parish priest of the town of San Juan Chamula, Pedro Arriaga, hailed the significance the Argentine pontiff's presence in a place such as Chiapas, "home to the excluded," saying it would be a "historic" day.
Chiapas, which borders Guatemala, is one of Mexico's poorest states, and its indigenous population (who account for 27 percent of its inhabitants) has been historically marginalized and neglected.
That state also is a point of entry for thousands of undocumented Central American migrants who try to make their way through Mexico to the United States in search of a better life.
Francis is "a Jesuit pope and in his spirituality the place where one follows Jesus is very important" and that is why he "places a lot of emphasis on going to the peripheries," Arriaga said.
"The indigenous communities, within their cosmovision, have a sense of recognizing the place, the soil, as their mother, and they feel that Pope Francis, as a missionary, is coming to set foot on Mother Earth," the Jesuit priest added.
During the Mass the pope will celebrate Monday in San Cristobal de las Casas before around 100,000 faithful, many of them Indians from other Mexican states and countries of Central America, a dance will be performed that will be "very refined, very delicate" because when it is danced it is an expression of "touching Mother Earth."
On the altar, Mother Earth will be expressed through painted replicas of "the Agua Azul waterfall, which is among the most beautiful natural sites in Chiapas," and the stairs of the Palenque archaeological zone, which will represent "the Mayan cosmovision," he said.
"The altar is very meaningful" because "it's from a community where Indians in San Cristobal de las Casas gather," and in the back there is a replica of the facade of the cathedral in that diocese, which dates back more than 450 years and is one of the oldest in the Americas.
Deacon Anselmo Guzman will proclaim the liturgy in Tzeltal, according to Arriaga, who said that during the ceremony the pope will officially authorize the use of the Nahuatl language in the liturgical texts, something that had already been approved for Tzeltal and Tzotzil.
During the ceremony, the pontiff "will not use the traditional incense in those silver thuribles, but instead an indigenous, clay incense burner," he said.
Yuam Pravia, a female member of the Miskito Indian community of Honduras who will attend the Mass, said she was confident the pope's visit would not be a mere ceremonial activity" but rather a genuine show of "inclusion" for the neediest.