Mexico dismisses and thanks Pope Francis with exequial masses

From north to south, Mexico has paid tribute to Pope Francis with exequial masses held in different cities of the country, where bishops, priests and the people of God have expressed their pain for their departure, but also their gratitude for the legacy he left in his pontificate.

Mexico City

In the primed archdiocese of Mexico, the exequial mass was chaired by the auxiliary bishop Mons. Francisco Javier Acero Pérez, in the Metropolitan Cathedral. During his emotional homily, he recalled with love the life and legacy of Pope Francis, especially highlighting his call to a “missionary church called to spread her joy in the world.”

“The life of Pope Francis invites us to resurrect Jesus, the living, of the graves where we have put it,” proclaimed Mons. Pérez Steel. “Let’s free it from the formalities where we have often locked it. We wake up from the dream of quiet life in which we have sometimes accommodated it, so that it does not bother or bother more.”

In this sense, he urged “peace gestures at this time marked by the horrors of war, forced disappearances and narcoviolence; with works of reconciliation in broken relationships and compassion towards those in need; with actions of justice in the midst of inequalities and really in the midst of lies”.

Veracruz

In Veracruz, located on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, in the central-east region of the country, the Cathedral of Xalapa was the scene of a felt exequial mass in honor of Pope Francis, chaired by Mons. Jorge Carlos Patron Wong, Archbishop of Xalapa and former collaborator of the Holy Father during his eight years of service in the Vatican.

In his homilyMons. Wong Patron shared intimate moments lived with Pope Francis at Casa Santa Marta. He particularly recalled the occasion when the Pope, upon learning of his father’s illness, offered him not only words of comfort.

“He told me: ‘We are going to have dinner to respect the community dinner schedule, and leave, you communicate with your dad.’

For Mons. Wong Patron, this gesture summarizes Francisco’s essence: “A human being, who taught us to live every day with the beauty of humanity. An example of life as a Christian.”

Another lesson indicated by Mons. Wong Patron was the love of the Pope for the Virgin Mary. After each Mass, Pope Francis stopped to sing to the Virgin a simple prayer learned in her childhood. The archbishop indicated that Pope Francis lived his Marian devotion as a natural expression of his Christian and Latin American being: “It is not understood being a Christian without Marian.”

“We thank Pope Francis for his life made gospel and pray for Him. We thank God that we all had Catholics as missionary disciples of Jesus Christ to Pope Francis,” he said.

Baja California

In Tijuana, located at the northwest end of Mexico, in the state of Baja California, a Exequial Mass In the Cathedral of Tijuana, chaired by Mons. Francisco Moreno Barrón, archbishop of this archdiocese.

During his homily, Mons. Moreno Barrón urged Catholics to “announce and proclaim that Christ lives” through the testimony of our life, and pointed out that the best way to do is “living the commandment of love, as Pope Francis did.”

“Always putting, in the first place, the person. Whoever is, in any condition and recognizing in it the risen Christ. Live the commandment of love like him. Assuming an attitude of closeness,” the archbishop urged.

Mons. Moreno Barrón stressed that this inheritance of love is not an abstract ideal, but “the simple and deep application of the Gospel” that Pope Francis embodied throughout his twelve years of pontificate and his whole life.

Michoacán

From the west of the Mexican territory, in the Cathedral of Morelia, in the heart of Michoacán, Mons. Carlos Garfías Merlos, archbishop of this Archdiocese visited by Pope Francis in 2016, presided over the Exequial Mass in memory of the deceased pontiff, underlining his legacy of faith, service and mercy.

In his homily, Mons. Garfías Merlos made a call to live inspired by the testimony of Pope Francis, with the “real commitment to serve and love the brothers, especially offering mercy, offering forgiveness, offering comfort, closeness and strength to our brothers.”

He also shared a very personal memory: his participation in the early April of this year in the jubilee of the sick and the world of health in the Vatican, where he closely experienced the deep humanity of Pope Francis. “He looked for anxiety to get to greet those who participated in the Eucharist,” he said, evoking the proximity of the Pontiff, despite the fact that his state of health was not the best.

Mons. Garfías Merlos concluded by encouraging that, during this Jubilee Year, which Pope Francis summoned, the whole country becomes “pilgrims of hope and evangelizer heralds”, carrying the comfort, faith and love that Pope Francis sowed.

Durango

In the Cathedral of Durango, in northern Mexico, Mons. Faustino Armendáriz Jiménez, Archbishop of the Archdiocese, presided over the exequial mass In memory of Pope Francis, highlighting one of the most emblematic legacies of the Pontiff: his call to “make mess.”

During his homily, Mons. Armendáriz recalled that this expression, coined by the Pope at the World Youth encounter in Brazil, was not a simple motto, but an invitation to “live and strengthen God’s experience to be a cheerful follower of Jesus.”

The Archbishop stressed that Pope Francis’s “mess” resulted in a constant impulse of spiritual and pastoral reform: “The encounter with the love of God throws us not to be with crossed arms,” ​​he said. He added that this dynamism marked his pontificate, in which he toured 66 countries, pronounced thousands of speeches and left a deep mark through his encyclicals and exhortations.

Mons. Armendáriz stressed that Francisco’s inheritance is a loving provocation to be “a church in exit, a bold church, a cheerful and deeply human church”, and asked that “his voice continues to resonate in each of our hearts.”