“Hay viene! Hay viene!” (Here he comes!) were the excited cries from the children as the plane carrying Pope Francis landed at the airport in Juarez, Mexico. Wrapping up his 5 day pastoral visit to Mexico, Pope Francis had chosen to end his trip in this city that has been torn apart by much violence, bloodshed and pain due to the ongoing drug wars. He was only here for about 9 hours, but he packed a lot into his stay in our sister city across the border.
The children who are altar servers in the Juarez diocese were invited to be a part of the crowd at the airport to greet the pope as he arrived. Over 5000 boys and girls were present, including the altar servers from our Las Alitas center. And greet him they did! With cheers and songs and joyful shouts, the kids let him know how excited they were to meet this shepherd who has been an ambassador of peace and hope to so many in our world.
One of the pope’s stops was to have lunch with 10 seminarians, chosen from among the hundred who are studying to be priests for this region. Jose, a young man from our Food Bank who was inspired by the example of Father Thomas to become a priest, was one of the 10 picked to eat with Pope Francis. His family also got to be in the lobby to greet the pope when he arrived at the seminary.
The rest of our folks who participated either lined the streets to watch the popemobile drive by or attended the papal Mass along with a crowd of 220,000 others. “Even after being there all day in the hot sun, no one wanted to leave after the Mass was finished,” Mary Ann Halloran shared. “There was so much joy and unity among all of us there, we didn’t want it to end.”
“We will never forget this experience,” Maria Elena said. “I never dreamed I would ever get to see a pope in person; and here Pope Francis actually came to visit us in our hometown! God is so good!”