Pope meets indigenous people in Mexico

(ANSA) - San Cristobal de Las Casas, February 15 - Pope Francis on Monday met with indigenous people and asked for their forgiveness for the "systematic" misunderstandings and exclusion they have been subjected to and the exploitation of their lands in San Cristobal de Las Casas in the extremely poor southern State of Chiapas on the third day of his apostolic visit to Mexico. "What sadness! How good it would do all of us to make an examination of conscience and learn to say: forgiveness," Francis told indios gathered at a local sports centre for a Mass officiated in three local languages, Tzeltal, Chol, and Tzotzil, in addition to Spanish.
    "Today's world, despoiled by throwaway culture, needs you!" he added. There was a moment of intense emotion when a representative of the indios almost wept as he said the prayer of supplication in a local language.
    The over 100,000 faithful and the pope listened rapt.
    Earlier Francis had been greeted with shouts of "Welcome to the pope of peace! Welcome to the pope of justice! Welcome to the pope of the poor!" After the Mass the pope approved the use of the Bible and Missal in the Tzeltal, Chol, and Tzotzil languages. He was then due to lunch with representatives of the indigenous communities before returning to Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Chiapas, to meet with families at the stadium there.
    On Sunday during his Angelus in Ecatepec, near Mexico City, the pontiff blasted narcos, calling them "traffickers of death".
    He called on Mexicans to "be on the front lines, to be proactive in all the initiatives that could help make this holy Mexican land a land of opportunity".
    In Italy Rosy Bindi of the Democratic Party (PD) and president of the bicameral anti-mafia commission thanked the pope for "reminding us of our responsibility to fight the poison of corruption and the ills produced by organised crime".
    "The words of the pope in Mexico concern us all," Bindi said.
    "The violence and criminal power of narcos that originate in that area find powerful allies in mafia organisations all over the world," she added. After Chiapas Pope Francis will move onto Michoacan, a State besieged by violence, where alliances between narcos and power as well as clashes between the gangs and self-defence groups are ongoing.
    Lastly he will visit Ciudad Juarez on the northern border with the United States, until recently considered one of the most dangerous places on Earth.
    In that city he will visit the notorious Cereso 3 prison, which holds many of Mexico's most feared narcos hitmen.