This is KPBS midday edition I am Maureen Cavanaugh Pope Francis continues it visit to Mexico today. On Saturday in Mexico City, the Pope was as fourth right with Mexico's politicians and religious leaders as he was with US officials last year. Telling them they owe the Mexican people true justice and security. Speaking Galligan's corruption. On Wednesday Pope Francis in the strip with a visit to the US-Mexico border of Juárez, and a Jesuit priest from San Diego will be attending mass celebrated by the holy father joining me is Rev. José Wilkinson of our lady of Guadalupe parish known as father Pepe. Welcome to the program. Thank you very much. How did you get to attend the Pope's mass in Morris? I heard about it and there were a number of people who were interested in going. So I decided to go, got a ticket. Did some of your parishioners want to go with you? Some parishioners and some friends talked about going. Actually one about parishioners will be governed as she has relatives in Juárez. What does the visit of Pope Francis to the border thing mean to your parishioners? While I told some people I was going, and they said to me you have to go as we cannot. We have a number of parishioners who are in documented as they cannot return from Mexico. And their homes, their families and lives are here within the US. I go, and I was going to see the Pope, celebrating with him. I said I will be carrying you with me. What do they expect you to come back with? A message? I think a message of justice. And I think that is what touches people's lives. The fact that this holy father has been so worth right, the rights of immigrants, human dignity. I think is very important. And it touches them. And just desk of Pope Francis was elected, he was the first man Pope, the first from the Americans. And the loudest applause was when we said he was the first Jesuit. For 75 years now. What message father Pepe do you expect the Pope will bring to those people in Morris who are affected by so much violence, and so much drug violence? God loves you, God cherishes you, this is not God's work the violence, and is not God's live that you live with this. He speaking forthrightly to people of positions of power, corrupt politicians, to say what you are doing is terribly wrong. The church always stands up for the innocent. An innocent lives are what we seek to protect and cherish. As you and I have mentioned, the Pope told Mexican officials on Saturday to give true justice and security to the Mexican people. Morris is a place where justice and security has not existed for several years. The city has been a dangerous place. And I am wondering if you are concerned about your safety? Yes, as a matter of fact I am but I am so very appreciative that the holy father is going there as no one should be living like this. And the holy father went to active war zone, the central African Republic. The church is on the side of and against violence. As father wars or BP escrow wars. It is a defeat for humanity and God calls for justice and peace. Of course, we have to respect the fact that the reason that the are so active as there is so much drug use in the United States of America. We have some responsibility of a country as for the violence. Do you think we will hear that from the Pope as well? I think, he may say that, it would be a good thing to say. It would be the type of thing that you should expect from this Pope. You should expect this from the Pope. Will he comment about the border fence. In proximity of if he does not actually seep to the US and Mexico. I am sure he will comment about the border. And the fact that it separates families. The Catholic Church stands for objection of families and the protection of marriage. And real and present danger and threat to marriage comes because of the border, because of the eve regular enforcement of our immigration laws. How do you hear and what do you hear of your version is about that affect on them? Just yesterday, someone came, and was talking about the death of her mother in law. And her husband, was very grieved but he cannot go back to Mexico because he does not have proper documentation, so he has to creep alone. That is one example and we find that frequently. The husband and wife are are separated because of the border. And children are deprived of the presence of their parents because of the unjust in immigration. I spoke of this last year with San Diego Bishop and spoke to him about the border issues and immigration reform, and I said, a lot of people do not necessarily agree with this as they do not agree, that people should be in this country and allowed to stay here after crossing the border illegally. And I asked him about what he felt about borders and he said that indeed, borders need to be respected. And national laws about borders need to be respected peer at I am wondering how you see that, in weight against the compassion about peoples whose lives are actually impacted, affected, by crossing a border illegally and not having the rights that everyone else in the country has? Well, we do and every country has the right to protect its territory integrity. It does have the right and responsibility to protect its citizens. The fact is that, people across the border are given jobs and given jobs that know what US citizen would take. And they came here for the good of their families in Mexico to advance the life of their families in Mexico. Who of us would not do the best we could for our own individual families? There are many different stories that we hear. We do not hear many people, and recently. These are people that have been here for many years who have built a life and are making tremendous contributions to society. Paying taxes, and so this is not a current issue about people crossing the border illegally. This is his people who have been here for a long time and we need to recognize the fact that their lives are here, they are contributing to society, their children are US citizens. And it is a crime to be tearing families apart when people say, what part of illegal do not understand? To reconsider a parking ticket the same as murder Expo things are against the law. But God's law is greater than human law. God's law helps us to see that certain issues are of greater importance than others. God always takes the side of the poor. While this Pope seems to have a deep compassion for the poor, for people who do not have a powerful voice in society. Do you think that emphasis of Pope Francis is in a sense revitalizing the mission of the Catholic Church? I do believe it is. In fact though, if you read the statements of all of the recent popes going back to the beginning of the 20th century, or just before the 20th entry, all of the popes have taken the side of the poor and the workers. Pope Francis, has an understanding of symbolic gestures. Just as St. John Paul the second did. He had an understanding of how to make a statement. And it has something to do with whether our training is judge was. -- Jaswant we have to have contact with the poor to keep us grounded. We can be with anyone. But we need to be with the poor, need to be with people who are suffering to remind us that the Lord is at work. And those people do inspires by their lives of faith and courage and generosity. Do you know where you will be during the mass when the Pope is celebrating mass? No, I just called to the diocese of El Paso today. I sent my identification information to El Paso some weeks ago. And I think I am going to be celebrating. The diocese of El Paso had received a request from the diocese of Juárez to get information. And the priest will be there. Does that mean that you will be actually celebrating the mass with the Pope? Yes I will be on the altar with him. My goodness, do you think you will meet Pope Francis? I think I will probably get to see him, I do not know by will get to meet him. People want to give me a rose and all types of things to take to him. You do not know whether or not your I do not know. After an experience like that if indeed that is what this turns out to be, how do you think that will affect you look I am sure it will animate me and excitement for the mission that I have been given in San Diego. To be with people on the border, and to give hope to these people. These people have tremendous faith and courage and generosity as I said. And they inspire me. I feel very privileged to be here for I want to wish you a safe journey. I have been speaking with reference father Pepe of our lady of Guadalupe they. Thank you very much. Thank you.
The visit of Pope Francis to Mexico marks the sixth Latin American country Pope Francis will have visited since his pontificate began in 2013. Francis will be visiting the border city of Juárez, a city recreating itself after years of bloodshed. That’s something Francis witnessed as a young priest during Argentina’s “Dirty War.”
His experience in Latin America, being the first Latin American leader of the Catholic Church, foretold his decision to echo some of the precepts of the movement founded in Latin America within the church, known as Liberation Theology. His decision to beatify a murdered Salvadoran archbishop also reflects the Pope's focus on Latin America.
The “Dirty War” that Francis lived through lasted from 1976 to 1983. Thousands of left-wing leaders, social activists and union chiefs were murdered by a military dictatorship bent on eliminating what it called Communist subversion.
Three years ago, Argentine courts ruled the Catholic Church was complicit in the human rights abuses and that its silence protected the dictatorship. The courts said that some priests in Argentina actually participated in the state’s repression.
When Francis became Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998, he said he regretted not doing more for the victims.
Last year, Pope Francis electrified Latin America with a stunning announcement. After years of opposition from within the Catholic Church itself, right-wing politicians and business leaders in Latin America, the Pope nominated a murdered Salvadoran archbishop for sainthood. The archbishop was Oscar Romero.
Romero forcefully challenged state repression in El Salvador. He was killed by a government-linked death squad while he celebrated Mass in the capital of San Salvador in 1980. The killing triggered an insurrection, led to the creation of a guerrilla movement in El Salvador and led ultimately to a brutal civil war. The United States backed the Salvadoran military against a coalition of guerrilla movements known as the FMLN.
Romero is an icon in Latin America. By focusing on Romero, Francis signaled his empathy for the ongoing struggle for economic and political equality in Latin America. The Pope's lens on that struggle is a factor in Francis' decision to visit to Juárez, a place that’s suffered the kind of violence that once plagued Argentina.
“Being him, a cleric from Latin America who became Pope, has given him a deep understanding of the dynamics of this phenomenon," said Mexican documentary photographer Julián Cardona in downtown Juárez. Cardona said he loves the fact that the Pope is using his platform to promote social change and equality, something Pope Francis does not decouple from faith and religion.
“And people who are nonbelievers are hearing his messages and are paying attention to him. People like me. And I think that makes a difference compared to other popes,” Cardona said.
“The Holy Father knows this situation," said Father Heziquio Trevizo, a historian and spokesman for the Archdiocese of Juárez. "He knows our history, our recent history, like a war."
By now, Juárez’ story is well-known. The city was known as the murder capital of the world for a time. That moniker haunted the city after a cartel war, a war between the cartels and the Mexican government, a Mexican Army deployment and rivers of blood that crested here — at least statistically — in 2010. Father Trevizo said victims of violence will be hosted in a special section at the Mass.
“We need to hear this message because in Mexico, it’s no good situation for the people, it’s poor, is violence, in our country right now! It is not a problem that is just economic or political. It’s in our soul. It’s in our life. We need to change deeper,” Trevizo said.
“This is his first time to Juárez. It’s like, (the Pope is saying) this is where I’m needed," said Juárez native Gabriella Carballo. “Friends died. Families got destroyed. Juárez has needed a visit from the Pope since forever.”
Outside Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe, on a bustling square five minutes from the border, Maria Elena Glazer is signing a message book in front of a life-size image of Pope Francis.
"I’m proud the Pope’s a Latino," she said in Spanish. She’s confident the Pope will address Juárez’ challenges.
"There’s a crime problem here,’" Glazer said matter-of-factly.
Of course, the Pope is not just a religious leader.
He was welcomed as a head of state when he addressed the U.S. Congress in September where he talked about immigration. Before that, he helped thaw the ice between the U.S. and Cuba. What he's done and what he'll do in Mexico is fitting for a Pope so deeply connected to Latin America and one of its principal challenges, migration and the root causes of flight.
