Thursday, August 25, 2011

Mexican President Views Pope John Paul II's Relics

President Felipe Calderón visited the Apostolic Nunciature in Mexico City over the weekend to view blessed Pope John Paul II's relics, which arrived in the country earlier this month, the Office of the President said. 

The president, first lady Margarita Zavala and the couple's three children visited the nunciature on Sunday. 

Calderón viewed "the capsule of blood taken from John Paul II during his illness, as well as the papal vestments made by Mexican artisans and placed on a wax figure of the blessed," the Office of the President said in a statement.

The blood and other relics of Pope John Paul II will be taken to different places in Mexico during a four-month tour. 

Mexico, which has a Catholic majority, asked the Vatican for a visit by the relics a few months after John Paul II was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome. 

Pope John Paul II visited Mexico five times, with the last visit coming in 1999, when he presided over the "Meeting of the Four Generations."