Today's announcement was made by the Holy Father himself, as he presided over an extraordinary evening Mass in honor of Mexico's national patroness, Our Lady of Guadalupe (http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/12/millions-of-mexican-faithful-today.html).
Celebrating the heavily attended event with the Pope -- which was also in honor of the 200th anniversary of the independence of Latin American nations from their former colonial master, Spain -- were four cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church. They included Cardinal Jaime Ortega y Alamino, the archbishop of Havana, Cuba, and Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, the archbishop of Mexico City, who is the primate (senior Catholic official) of Mexico. Benedict told the congregation that all of Latin America needs help to overcome "its misery," which he said includes challenges such as illiteracy, crime, corruption, drug trafficking , extortion and general public insecurity.
The trip came as no surprise, since the Holy See had pre-announced the Pope's travel plans last month (http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/11/vatican-announces-probable-papal-visit.html). Nonetheless, when the Holy Father confirmed them during his homily, the audience of thousands broke into vigorous applause.
In Mexico, church sources said that Pope Benedict's trip probably will be limited to Mexico City. The travel plans have greatly excited Catholics in Cuba, where the last papal visit, by John Paul II, was almost 14 years ago. John Paul met with former Cuban president Fidel Castro during the January 1998 trip, and long chilly relations between the island nation and the Vatican warmed significantly as a result.
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