Pilgrims beware! Mexican bishops warn against papal ticket scams

Mexico City, Mexico, Jan 19, 2016 / 04:38 am

Following the rise of fraudulent papal ticket "sales" online, the Mexican Conference of Catholic Bishops has reminded the faithful that tickets to attend events during Pope Francis' trip are free.  

Pope Francis will visit Mexico in a highly anticipated trip Feb. 12-18. In the weeks leading up to his trip, various scams have arisen, including several efforts on Facebook to encourage people to "buy" tickets to the papal events for several hundred dollars. 

Countering these efforts, the Mexican bishops released a press statement reminding the faithful that tickets for all events with the Pope have already been designed and "besides being stamped FREE,  have certain security features and information about when and where to enter the event  and what items cannot be brought in."

The tickets are already being printed and will be delivered in late January to the bishops of the 93 dioceses of Mexico "so that each bishop can distribute them in his respective diocese as he deems appropriate, also trying to include those who do not participate in the Church," the bishops said.

The allocation of tickets takes into account "the number of inhabitants in each diocese, the number of Catholics, religious men and women, seminarians, deacons and priests, as well as the geographic proximity to where the Mass or event will be held."

"It is important to reiterate that the tickets are absolutely FREE," the Mexican prelates emphasized. 

The bishops renewed their call to young people who want to participate in this trip as volunteers and encouraged them to sign up on the website for the visit: www.papafranciscoenmexico.org

They explained that a very significant moment during the visit "will be the pope's meeting with Mexican young people on February 16 at 4 p.m., at the José María Morelos y Pavón Stadium in Morelia. Young people who are not close to the Church or part of it will also be able to participate."