Leon, Mexico, Feb 2, 2012 / 11:51 am
Monsignor Fidel Hernandez Lara, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Leon, Mexico, expressed his hope that the Pope’s upcoming visit will reawaken the country’s faith.
Pope Benedict’s visit will be an encouragement to all Mexicans, Msgr. Hernandez told CNA. It “will help to confirm us in the faith and to awaken in us greater fidelity and surrender to Jesus Christ.”
He called on Catholics to prepare themselves for the visit and to be open to listening to the Pope “speak to us of Jesus Christ and bring us a message. We need to be ready to hear it.”
Msgr. Hernandez recalled that the history of Mexico bears witness to the principles, values and faith of the people “who were willing to shed their blood for their faith which was being trampled upon.”
He noted that many of the martyrs of the 1920s cried, “Long live Christ the King,” as they were killed.
“The fact that the main celebration (the Mass at Bicentennial Park) will take place close to the monument of Christ the King is as if Christ the King was telling us today, ‘here is my vicar, standing on the land watered by the blood of the martyrs.’”
Pope Benedict XVI “is a great blessing for the Church in our times, with all of his pastoral and doctrinal teaching … and above all because of his fidelity to the Church and to Jesus Christ,” Msgr. Hernandez concluded.