"I'm going to look for the wealth of faith that you have, I'll try to be contaminated by that wealth of faith," he said, adding that Mexico has an "idiosyncrasy, a way of being that is the result of a very long journey, of a history that was slowly forged" with both joy and sorrow, success and failure.
Above all, Mexico has the wealth of refusing to be "orphans" because of their Mother, he said, referring to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This, Francis said, is perhaps "the greatest wealth that I will seek."
Veneration of Our Lady of Guadalupe dates back to the 16th century, and surrounds a miraculous image of Mary left on a tilma, made from a piece of poor-quality cactus cloth.
It all started when a "Lady from Heaven" appeared to Saint Juan Diego, a poor Indian from Tepeyac, on a hill northwest of Mexico City. Over the course of a series of apparitions in 1531, the woman, who identified herself as the Mother of the True God, instructed Juan Diego to have the bishop build a church on the site.
As a sign, the now-famous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, was imprinted miraculously on his tilma. Both the image and the tilma remain intact after more than 470 years.
The Pope said that when he thinks of Our Lady of Guadalupe, he things of "safety and tenderness."
He said that he frequently prays to her whenever he has a problem or when he doesn't know how to react to a bad situation. When these things happen, the Pope said he likes to repeat Mary's words to St. Juan Diego during one of her apparitions: "Do not be afraid. Am I not here who am your Mother?"
"This is what I feel: that she is a Mother, that she cares, protects, carries a people forward, conducts a family, that she gives warmth to the home, tenderly caresses and takes away the fear. That's what I feel in front of the image."
Pope Francis explained that during one of his two previous visits to the shrine before his election, someone attempted to explain the symbolic image to him, but he declined and preferred to sit in silence before the "talkative" image.
This time, which marks his third visit to the shrine, the Pope asked for a similar favor: "What I would ask is that this time…you leave me alone for a little while before the image. It is the favor I ask."
In his final response, Francis offered a few of his own expectations for Mexicans, primarily that they wouldn't keep their faith inside to themselves, but would instead go out "to the streets," and become visible in public life.
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"Faith must grow and go out and put itself into daily life, a public faith. And faith becomes stronger when is public, especially in times of crisis," he said.
"There is a great blessing and a desire – expressed by you – of faith jumps out, that faith is a missionary faith, that faith is not bottled, like a tin can," he said, explaining that faith is born from an encounter with Jesus, our savior.
From this encounter, faith then "has to go out on the street," including our schools, places of work, and even our conversations with others, he said.
The Pope alluded to the Cristero War of the 1920s, saying that Mexico has "martyrs in your history who have given their lives to follow this path," and encouraged them not to stay locked up inside with Jesus, but to let him out, because "if we don't go out, he doesn't go out."
He said that to renew one's faith in this way means not being afraid of conflicts, but instead means searching for solutions.
While this might have its risks, the Pope reminded Mexicans of Mary's words to Juan Diego: "do not be afraid to go out, do not be afraid my little son, my little daughter. Am I not here who am your Mother?"