Pope urges Mexico leaders to provide 'true justice'

Pope urges Mexico leaders to provide
# 13 February 2016 21:50 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Pope Francis urged Mexico's leaders Saturday to provide "true justice" to citizens hit by drug violence and called on bishops to courageously fight the scourge plaguing the country, APA reports quoting AFP.

With President Enrique Pena Nieto by his side at the National Palace, Francis invoked the country's struggles against corruption and crime, one day after arriving on a five-day, cross-country tour that will take him to some of Mexico's hotspots.

The pope told the assembled officials that social, cultural and political leaders have a duty to help citizens get "real access to the material and spiritual goods which are indispensable: adequate housing, dignified employment, food, true justice, effective security, a healthy and peaceful environment."

"Experience teaches us that each time we seek the path of privileges or benefits for a few to the detriment of the good of all ... society becomes a fertile soil for corruption, drug trade, exclusion of different cultures, violence and also human trafficking, kidnapping and death, bringing suffering and slowing down development," he said.

It was the kind of message that many ordinary Mexicans, fed up with a decade of drug violence that has left more than 100,000 dead or missing, were hoping for.

Mexico was reminded of its troubles on the eve of the pope's arrival, when 49 inmates were killed in a prison brawl between rival groups in the north of the country.

Thousands of Catholic faithful who stood outside the National Palace in the historic Zocalo square broke into cheers at the Argentine pontiff's words.

"Bravo! How great that he tells the government the truth," one woman shouted.

"The pope put the government to shame with everything that he said. Let's see if Pena Nieto does the right thing," said Ramiro Sosa, a 56-year-old shopkeeper from the crime-ridden eastern state of Veracruz.

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