Pope Francis leaves for Cuba and Mexico

Pope Francis left Rome this morning on his way to Mexico for a weeklong pastoral visit that will take him to Mexico City, to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and to some of the country's most poor and violent towns on the margins of society.

On his way to Mexico the Holy Father will make a brief stop in Havana, Cuba for a meeting with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill. The recently-added visit to the papal itinerary is being seen by many as an historic step towards healing the wounds of division after the schism 1,000 years ago.

On Twitter today, Pope Francis said: "In Mexico I will look into the eyes of the Virgin Mary and implore here to look upon us always with mercy. I entrust my journey to her."

The Pope's visit to Mexico has been overshadowed by the deaths of at least 49 inmates at a prison in the north of the country. Fire broke out after a brawl between rival gangs at the overcrowded Topo Chico penitentiary turned into a riot, injuring a further 12.

The Pope's visit to another jail in the Mexican border city of Juarez is going ahead, in spite of a riot at another Northern Mexican jail in which 49 inmates died. Francis will meet inmates there, some of whom have been jailed for narcotics related crimes. The prison, which has about 3,000 inmates, has achieved accreditation under international prison standards. Pope Francis will be presented with around 700 of the inmates and will meet individually about 50.

In another jail in the Northern industrial city of Monterrey a feud between inmates from rival drug cartels recently turned murderous with 49 convicts either bludgeoned to death or fatally stabbed. It is because of this extreme level of violence due to chronic overcrowding and lack of basic amenities in a crumbling penal system, that Pope Francis is going inside the prison walls, to see conditions himself.

Millions of people all around Mexico are taking today off work to prepare for and to celebrate the first trip to Mexico of Pope Francis.

Source: VIS/Twitter