Leon, Mexico, Mar 24, 2012 / 11:57 am
Pope Benedict has delivered a message to the people of Guanajuato from his predecessor Blessed John Paul II, which was given aboard the late Pope's plane but virtually “forgotten” after 1979.
“It would be very pleasing to have visited your beloved land, but circumstances have not permitted the time for it,” Pope John Paul II said in words originally directed to the people of Guanajuato as his plane passed over the Sanctuary of Christ the King in 1979.
The late Pope's words were nearly lost for more than three decades, appearing only in a single book prepared by the Mexican Catholic Episcopal Conference. On March 23, Pope Benedict began his speech at Guanajuato's airport by delivering the message from his predecessor.
“I exhort you to remain faithful in your faith, to love Christ and the Church, in intimate union with your pastors,” Pope John Paul II declared in the message, which cannot be found in any other record of Papal speeches from the 1979 trip.