Vatican City, Mar 23, 2012 / 08:43 am
Pope Benedict XVI's apostolic voyage to Mexico and Cuba which begins today is a “journey of hope,” according to Vatican press director Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J.
Fr. Lombardi said the visit will provide “hope for Mexicans, a people with immense resources and potential, but currently afflicted by serious problems which weigh on their present and future, first among them the problem of violence.”
In a March 23 editorial, the head of the Holy See's press office also said the trip will bring “hope for Cubans, who feel they are on the threshold of what is potentially a new epoch, in which John Paul II's words on the reciprocal openness of Cuba and the world may be realized in a climate of development, freedom and reconciliation.”
The Pope departed Rome this morning and will arrive in the Mexican city of Leon at 4:30 p.m. local time. He will remain in Mexico until March 26 before traveling to Cuba and then returning to Rome on March 29.