Pope to Visit Tijuana, 17 Other Mexican Cities Next May

Pope John Paul II will visit Mexico for eight days next May, including the California-Mexican border city of Tijuana and at least 17 other cities, the Mexican bishops’ conference has announced.

It will be John Paul’s second trip to Mexico as Pope and his first to Tijuana, where he is expected to end his tour on May 13 before returning to Rome. In his January, 1979, Mexico visit, the pontiff warned the Latin American bishops, meeting in Puebla, against politicizing the church’s mission to promote social justice and help the poor. He will return to Puebla on May 9, according to an advance schedule released in Mexico City.

Mexico City Auxiliary Bishop Genaro Alamilla told a news conference that the Pope’s visit to the capital city and 13 Mexican states--representing all major regions of Mexico--will include meetings with laborers, religious and lay leaders, journalists and youth. The Pope is expected to address Mexico’s foreign debt, drug trafficking, the family, abortion and contraception, and migration problems.

Left-wing opposition leaders have accused the Roman Catholic Church of using the visit to promote political reform of the Mexican Constitution, but Alamilla said the visit would be a pastoral one.