Catholic News Service: In Mexico City, Blessed John Paul's relics bring hope for peace

They gathered outside the papal nuncio's office in Mexico City on August 24 to pray for peace. Ordinary Mexicans, full of faith, grieving over the interminable violence that has held their country in a tight and sinister grip since the 2006 beginning of a three sided narco-war, a conflict between the state and drug gangs, and between drug gangs themselves. Ordinary Mexicans without power or prestige, but with a firm faith, were drawn here on the 24th by the presence of relics of Blessed John Paul II. "We're praying for a miracle," said Paola Rivera. The tour of Blessed John Paul's relics, which will visit every diocese in the country, was requested by the Mexican bishops conference as part of a spiritual fightback against the bloodletting. Pope John Paul II was especially beloved in Mexico: "He was our Mexican pope," says Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City. "(We're) praying that it quiets down, that there's peace. It's important that it (peace) returns to this country," said Paolo's husband, Julian Salvador. "This is about faith, about hope," said banker Ernesto Rowe.