MEXICO: Thousands pray to Pope John Paul II on the eve of his beatification

Record ID: 1527264

  • Title: MEXICO: Thousands pray to Pope John Paul II on the eve of his beatification
  • Date: 1st May 2011
  • Summary: PEOPLE MAKING THE SIGN OF THE CROSS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WAVING MEXICAN AND VATICAN FLAGS WOMAN HOLDING PHOTOS OF JOHN PAUL II AND IMAGE OF THE VIRGIN OF GUADALUPE PORTRAIT OF VIRGIN OF GUADALUPE
  • Embargoed: 16th May 2011 02:17
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico, Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVAC0BAGU4090K0LPODWHTJN15D5
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Thousands of Mexicans gathered on Saturday (April 30) to honour Pope John Paul II's on the eve of his beatification.
    A special mass was held at the Basilica of Guadalupe to remember the Pope who visited Mexico five times during his tenure.
    Images of the Virgin of Guadalupe were everywhere as were Mexican and Vatican flags. Those present waved the flags throughout the mass.
    On his last trip to Mexico in 2002 , Pope John Paul II canonized the indigenous peasant Juan Diego for his visions of Virgin of Guadalupe, a celebrated Catholic icon of the Virgin Mary, in 1531.
    "This is another opportunity for us to feel the emotion of when he would come. Now we are on bended knee for this (beatification of John Paul II)," said Silvia Lorenzana, a catholic and devotee of Pope John Paul II.
    "I asked him very much for a grandson and he made that miracle happen," said another devotee, Maria Esperanza, who says she prayed to John Paul II for a grandson.
    Pope John Paul II died on April 2, 2005 and the process for canonization began one month later, bypassing ecclesiastical restrictions that five years must pass after a person's death before the beatification process can begin.
    Following Brazil, Mexico has the highest population of Catholics in the world with 92.9 million, according to the latest census.
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