Mexico City, Mexico, Dec 5, 2011 / 12:20 pm
Pope Benedict invited Cardinal Norberto Rivera of Mexico City to celebrate Mass on the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe and to honor the bicentennial independence of Latin America.
“Celebrating Holy Mary of Guadalupe on her feast day is like saying to the entire continent: remember her, remember the Church, who was with you during the process of independence,” Cardinal Rivera told Mexico City's archdiocesan paper Desde la fe.
The cardinal said he interprets the Mass invitation as a gesture of closeness from the Pope, and said “I am happy that he is thinking of Mexico.”
He will be joined by two additional Latin American cardinals at the Vatican to celebrate the feast day on Dec. 12 with Pope Benedict.