"Hijo, He Ahí Tu Madre" – For Guadalupe, The Pope's Crowning Glory

With the Moscow summit far too quickly in the rear-view, it still took little time before the central stage of this PopeTrip began to make its mark. Less than three years since his election, the days to come already bring Pope Francis' 12th overseas trip... yet even if pontiffs touch down in airports fairly often, it's far, far less frequent that their ride's arrival appears to roll in like the climactic piece of the Super Bowl Halftime Show.Of course, if such a thing were going to happen anywhere, it'd be in Mexico... and that it did. Accordingly, last night's exuberant, made for prime-time TV touchdown at the presidential hangar – complete with scores of dancing mariachi, big-name performers, arena lighting and thousands packed in risers – simply lived up to the usual reputation for effortless magnificence.With the six-day tour ahead, the first American Pope doesn't just return home again, but finally reaches the Catholic world's second-largest outpost, its estimated 100 million souls second only to Brazil's 130 million. Unlike elsewhere in Latin America, however, Mexico has made good on its eternal boast of being "siempre fiel" – "forever faithful" – with little of the attrition of its Catholics to Evangelical or Pentecostal startups... and The Reason Why That Is is the centerpiece of this visit's first day, if not the entire journey itself.* * *As a matter of context, it's worth keeping in mind that, given the Holy Year of Mercy, Papa Bergoglio has intentionally aimed to scale back on long-haul travel in order to remain in Rome as the Jubilee events unfold. Unlike the prior years (so far) of this oft-unpredictable papacy, 2016's slated journeys are only being made for explicitly targeted, practically un-delayable purposes: late July's trek to Poland wouldn't be happening if not for the triennial observance of World Youth Day, this time in Krakow, and the recently-announced 31 October visit to Sweden gives Francis another turn at groundbreaking ecumenism in joining the world's Lutheran leadership in opening the observances for the 500th anniversary of the German Reformation. Along these lines, even as it's now clear that this trip provided the "cover" to accomplish the Vatican-Russian Orthodox meeting which successive Popes have longed to see – albeit not for "1,000 years" – regardless of whether or not the Moscow Patriarchate decided to take the plunge, it was never the core purpose of the week: good Italian grandson that he is, the Pope just wanted to see his Mother, and entrust to her protection the great project of his pontificate. Indeed, the timing is auspicious, and anything but unintentional – not just the first week of Lent (when, until now, Popes have always holed up on retreat with their Curia), but the last stage of discernment on the Synod for the Family before the Apostolic Exhortation expected to roll out next month. And with it, just as half a millennium of the faithful have climbed el Cerrito de Tepeyac to beg the help of Madre nuestra, la Virgen Morena – the "Little Dark Lady" of Guadalupe – so comes another Bishop of Rome seeking a miracle of his own... ...just this time, with one key difference:Como nunca antes de hoy, el Papa viene a nuestra Madre como su hijo americano – as never before, the Pope who comes to Guadalupe today does so as one of her American children. To be sure, as no less than Francis himself put it during November's in-flight presser from Africa...

I am going to Mexico. First of all to visit Our Lady, because she is the Mother of America. That is why I am going to Mexico City. Were it not for Our Lady of Guadalupe, I would not go to Mexico City.... I’ll go to Mexico for Our Lady.

In other words, if what you're seeing elsewhere is already leading with drugs, violence, The Border – or even the reality that Mexicans increasingly comprise the largest ethnic bloc of the 70 million-member Stateside Church – all of it misses the entire point.* * * It's been almost a decade and a half since a Pope last made it up the hill to see her, but over it the stadium-like, 35,000-seat Guadalupe Basilica where the tilma of St Juan Diego is displayed has only bolstered its status as the most-visited shrine in Christendom, routinely drawing over 20 million pilgrims a year. By comparison, the runners-up – Lourdes and Fatima – each welcome barely a third of that, and the Vatican itself recorded just over 3 million visitors in 2015. What's more, however, Guadalupe is commonly estimated to see upwards of 5 million people show up just over the days immediately surrounding the Morenita's 12 December feast, the celebration of which North of the Border has now become US Catholicism's biggest annual event (while said church's ever-dwindling Anglo minority sleeps through it). Against the rich backdrop, while Francis has followed in B16's footsteps by celebrating the December feast with a Mass in St Peter's over each of his years as Pope – offered in Spanish, the only major Vatican liturgy of the year which isn't in Latin and/or Italian – on the occasion of his papal homecoming to the mother first declared "Empress of America" by Pius XI, the liturgical rule-book has been taken to the shredder. Ergo, at 5pm local/US Central time tonight, defying the vigil hour for the First Sunday of Lent, the pontiff will instead lead the full solemnity Mass of Guadalupe Day, with its white vestments, proper prayers, readings, Gloria and all.... Lest it wasn't clear enough, this choice is by no means arbitrary, and is meant to underscore the moment's intent of joy and gratitude, both for the church on the entire American continent, North and South – of which Tepeyac is roughly the central point – not to mention that of the Pope himself, his own parents having been married on the feast. Only at liturgy's end, however, will the night's most meaningful pieces take place. For starters, his childlike, all-consuming Marian devotion having made for no shortage of potent moments – above all the striking scene of a Pope looking lost and at the point of weeping – while Papa Bergoglio has routinely offered prayers of homage or dedication to the Madonna's many "faces," having already awarded his sole Golden Rose to Guadalupe in rapid order upon his election, today Francis will double down in making his first, and possibly only, "crowning" of a Marian image, using a self-written prayer to perform the act after Communion and blessing a new crown as his gift to be placed over the tilma. After Mass comes the even more personal part. In a pre-trip interview guided by the venerable Andrés Beltramo for the Mexican state agency Notimex, the Pope petitioned a "favor" of the entire country: that he might have "some time alone" before the tilma... "Will you let me have this?" Francis asked. Of course, he will have it – and to fit the unusual request of a Pope who normally likes loading up on spontaneity, his schedule for tonight has been cleared, that all the time he seeks with Morenita will be his. That said, how it'll come to pass is rather extraordinary – the tilma is drawn back from its normal place of display in the Basilica into the "camarín" (dressing room): a hidden vault which doubles as a shelter in case of an attack on the image. We'll see it in better quality soon, but below is rare video of the 1999 visit into the chamber by the now-St John Paul II....Lest the passage of time has dulled some memories, over Papa Wojtyla's shoulder some might notice another great, inimitable figure: one of this scribe's great teachers, who happened to crash the ascending crew at the last minute (or so he said), and without whose Philly-ness a certain kid back home would never have known that the moment had ever happened....And now, to pass it on, here we are again.Put simply, Church, may tonight remind us all of what and how much those who came before us gave and did... and how much we owe the same on the road ahead – above all in this one America, but with it, for every other unheard and unseen place beyond. O Mamma, aiutaci – ¡Morenita de Tepeyac, ayudanos! Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus quae retribuit mihi?-30-