The Latest: Papal visit dramatizes changes in Mexico

Pope Francis’ tour though Mexico’s National Palace dramatizes the remarkable turnabouts in the country’s relationship with the Roman Catholic Church.

President Enrique Pena Nieto escorted the pontiff beneath enormous murals by Diego Rivera, a flamboyant Marxist who imbued the works with the passionate anti-clericalism of the Mexican Revolution.

The murals give grim images of the Catholic priests who accompanied the Spanish conquest and who helped rule Mexico for 300 years. One is shown as grotesquely obese and pig-like, others as torturers. Mexico’s rulers broke with the church after independence and barred public displays of religion. Many of the restrictions weren’t lifted until 1992.

Still, the mural doesn’t vilify all. Among the heroes it portrays are priests Miguel Hidalgo and Jose Maria Morelos, leaders of the fight for independence.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto says he shares Pope Francis’ concerns about the “great challenges … doubts and uncertainties” that the nation faces.

In a speech alongside the pope at Mexico’s National Palace, Pena Nieto mentioned hunger, inequality and the dangers of people “letting themselves be carried away by evil.”

He also criticized “continuing barriers and obstacles to the migration of people who seek a better life.”

Francis’ visit to the world’s largest Spanish-speaking nation comes as it is afflicted by drug violence, corruption and social ills – themes on which the pontiff has repeatedly expressed concern.

Pena Nieto said Saturday it was an honor to receive a pope for the first time in Mexico’s ceremonial seat of presidential power, and a reflection of good relations between the country and the Vatican.

Pope Francis is telling Mexico’s political leaders that they have a duty to provide their people with security, “true justice” and basic services as he plunges head-on into the topic of drug-inspired violence, corruption and social ills that afflict the country.

In a speech to President Enrique Pena Nieto and government authorities Saturday, Francis said those in public office responsible for the common good must be honest and upright and not be seduced by privilege.

He said political leaders had a “particular duty” to ensure their people had “indispensable” material and spiritual goods: “adequate housing, dignified employment, food, true justice, effective security, a healthy and peaceful environment.” He said it wasn’t enough just to pass laws, but for all Mexicans to take responsibility to help the country.

Francis’ entire trip is shining an uncomfortable spotlight on the government’s failure to solve entrenched social ills that plague many parts of Mexico – poverty, rampant gangland killings, extortion, disappearances of women, crooked cops and failed city services.

Pope Francis has arrived at Mexico’s presidential palace for an official welcome ceremony after taking a 14-kilometer (8.7-mile) journey through Mexico City in his popemobile, to the adoration of tens of thousands of people who lined the route.

Under a brilliant sun and morning chill, Francis was welcomed at the palace Saturday by President Enrique Pena Nieto and his wife. Military bands played the Mexican and Holy See anthems as Francis stood solemnly.

Francis’ first order of business is a private meeting with Pena followed by a speech to the country’s political leadership, where he’s expected to address the drug violence and corruption tormenting Mexico. He then moves to the city cathedral for a hard-hitting address on how the Catholic Church should help Mexicans cope with the many social ills afflicting the country. He ends his day in what he has said would be his “most intimate desire”: praying before the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Tens of thousands of cheering Mexicans have gathered outside the residence where Pope Francis is staying to send him off on his first full day in Mexico: an official welcome at the presidential palace, a meeting with the country’s bishops and a Mass at the shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Cheers went up as Francis pulled out in his popemobile and abruptly stopped to greet elderly, sick and disabled people who had gathered outside the residence of the Vatican nuncio. He handed out rosaries to faithful in wheelchairs and embraced a young boy wearing a surgical mask.

Thousands more Mexicans are lining his motorcade route and history’s first Latin American pope is basking in the welcome from the largest Spanish-speaking Catholic country in the world.