The Pastoral Address Is Political During the Pope's Visit to Mexico
In the city of Lein, Mexico, The Vatican defined the meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and President Felipe Calderón as a courtesy visit. The meeting took place on Saturday evening, while Pope Benedict XVI was in the middle of a tour to Mexico and Cuba that was simply pastoral in nature.
However, the pope’s statements made prior to the event, which included remarks about communism in Cuba and violence in Mexico, made it abundantly obvious that he did not mean to disregard his potential political effect. Especially in Mexico, political observers have been arguing for months that the timing of his arrival, which is fourteen weeks before the presidential election, makes the visit a political endeavor with a partisan goal: to bolster President Calderón’s conservative National Action Party, also known as the PAN, as campaign season kicks into high gear. This is especially true in Mexico.
According to Homero Aridjis, the most well-known poet in Mexico, “It’s not a pastoral visit; it’s an electoral visit for the PAN.” “Ciudad Juárez, a gritty border metropolis that has been traumatized by violence, is not going to be visited by Benedict,” the speaker said. In the event that it was a spiritual visit, he would travel to the locations that are in desperate need of his presence and his mission.
It’s possible that it really isn’t that easy. At the age of 84, Pope Benedict XVI is the first pope in history to travel so far away from Rome at such a late stage of his life. The pope also addressed Mexico’s war against violence while he was traveling here from Rome. He blamed the “idolatry of money” for pulling young people into lifestyles of crime. He made this statement while he was sitting on the plane.
In addition, he expressed his desire to pray for “those who suffer because of old and new rivalries, resentments, and all forms of violence” during a brief address that he delivered at the airport in this location.
In spite of this, the strategy taken by the pope, which is to portray the violence in Mexico as a personal moral failure, is an exact match for the attitude taken by President Calderón, who is a fervent Catholic. This message, according to experts, will assist in shifting the debate away from policy and complaints regarding the way in which the administration of Calderón has conducted the fight against drug cartels, which has resulted in 50,000 deaths since the end of 2006.
Additionally, President Calderón has fulfilled his responsibilities. On Friday, while he was introducing the pope at the airport, he removed his government from culpability for issues such as corruption. He did this by emphasizing that Mexico was going through “difficult and decisive moments” and “moments of great tribulation” as organized crime and “evil” attempted to destroy the country.
Despite the fact that all three candidates for president have stated that they intend to attend the papal Mass that will take place on Sunday in León, the pope’s timing, statements, and choice of venue — a conservative and Catholic bastion — have made it quite plain that the Vatican’s natural partner is Mr. Calderón’s party.
Gabriel Guerra, a political analyst and consultant whose clients have included all three of Mexico’s major political parties, stated that the PAN is the party that is most closely associated with the Vatican, the pope, and the Catholic Church. “They would be the ones to benefit the most from this.”
The church, according to the opinions of experts, has a vested interest in maintaining the authority of the PAN. PAN officials and Catholic leaders have grown to rely on each other for conservative support on social matters ever since the party won the presidency in 2000, putting an end to 71 years of power by the Institutional Revolutionary Party. The party was formed by conservative Catholics, and there has been a continued relationship between the two groups ever since. Additionally, the PAN has proven to be beneficial to the church in its efforts to get greater flexibility for the incorporation of religious education into public schools.
But there are political risks associated with this tightening of the bond. “Don’t mess with politics” is a common mantra even among the most devout members of the Mexican religious community. Mexicans are accustomed to a wall of separation between church and state. Mr. Calderón, possibly aware of the potential dangers involved, chose to bow rather than kiss the pope’s ring when they first met. This is the traditional papal greeting for Catholics, but Mr. Calderón chose to bow instead. It seems likely that the dance between the Pope and the PAN will continue to take place at arm’s length throughout the remaining days of the trip, with occasional steps in alignment.
According to the Reverend Joseph Palacios, a sociology professor at Georgetown University whose research has concentrated on the Mexican church, “If it looks like the PAN is too close to the pope, especially given its history and where the pope is going, it can look like an overreach.” Palacios’s research has centered on the Mexican church. It’s the irony of it all. Because of this, the church loses a significant amount of credibility and confidence when it appears to be actively participating in political activities.
