On Tuesday, October 6, the Holy See Press Office announced that plans are being developed for a papal trip to Mexico. That news is making the rounds here and here. Such a visit could take place during 2016; but, the Vatican does not confirm papal travel more than a few months ahead of a proposed departure date.

A papal pilgrimage to Mexico would mark the fourth time Francis has returned to Latin America since his election on the night of March 13, 2013. Already, he has traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for World Youth Day in July of 2013; Ecuador, Bolivia, and Paraguay this July; and, Cuba last month. Enormous crowds turned out to see the Argentine pontiff in all the places he visited.

Typically, papal voyages unfold under a proposed theme or a constellation of pastoral concerns. Recently, Pope Francis visited the United States between September 22 and 27 for the World Meeting of Families. One theme that followed the pope throughout his time on US soil was "Love is Our Mission," which was scrolled across the trip's official logo. But, what might be the theme of a papal trip to Mexico?

While news of a trip to Mexico is just breaking, it is already believed the pope could use the tour to continue to address the theme of immigration. As pope, Francis’ first trip outside Rome was to Lampedusa in July of 2013. Located at the edges of Europe, that island is a touchstone of the continent’s immigration debate, especially since many boats carrying undocumented immigrants have cap-sized there, resulting in untold tragic deaths. In that place of painful memory, the pope prayed,

Lord, in this liturgy, a penitential liturgy, we beg forgiveness for our indifference to so many of our brothers and sisters. Father, we ask your pardon for those who are complacent and closed amid comforts which have deadened their hearts; we beg your forgiveness for those who by their decisions on the global level have created situations that lead to these tragedies. Forgive us, Lord!

It is too early to know whether the pope would travel to the Mexico-US border. But, he could offer similar prayers there, challenging North American complacency.

Regardless, already ahead of his visit here last month, he participated in a virtual papal audience that connected him via live satellite with Sacred Heart parishioners in McAllen, Texas on the US border. During that audience, he singled out and praised the work of Sr. Norma Pimentel, Executive Director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande.  

One venue already expected on the papal itinerary is the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. There, pilgrims venerate the mantel of Blessed Juan Diego that depicts a pregnant Mary of Nazareth, an image dear to pro-lifers in the Americas. In that image, Mary is depicted as a mestiza, which joins her with the indigenous people of the Americas. During the pope’s recent visit to the United States, he canonized St. Junipero Serra, using the event as an opportunity to speak out against atrocities committed against native peoples. He held up the example of the new saint as one who “sought to defend the dignity of the native community, to protect it from those who had mistreated and abused it,” noting that such abuses “today still trouble us, especially because of the hurt which they cause in the lives of many people.” Perhaps, he could implore the Virgin of Guadalupe as a powerful intercessor who draws close to the downtrodden.

Certainly, themes of immigration, the rights and dignity of the vulnerable and marginalized are important to this pope.

Most recently in the US, the pope proclaimed the rights of all vulnerable persons before the US Congress in Washington, the UN General Assembly in New York, and in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, he declared the whole Gospel of Life, uniting the seemingly separate themes of religious liberty, the dignity of immigrants and refugees, and the defense of the culture of life and the civilization of love. At the World Meeting of Families, he “emphatically proclaimed” the Gospel of the Family with the bishops and the whole Church.

Undoubtedly, Pope Francis’ visit to Mexico would be seen in light of Pope St. John Paul II’s and Pope Benedict XVI’s trips there. Both men visited Mexico during their papacies. During his third longest pontificate in Church history, the ‘Pope of the Family’ visited Mexico five times; his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, visited there only once in 2012.

Pope John Paul II traveled to Mexico and the United States in 1999 upon the conclusion of the 1997 Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for America. While in Mexico, he signed the official document of that collegial assembly, known as a Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, which was entitled in Latin Ecclesia in America. Usually, such documents come out a year after the meeting concludes. In that document, the pope discussed – among other topics – “Challenges Facing Christian Families.”

There, he wrote that “Many insidious forces are endangering the solidity of the institution of the family in most countries of America, and these represent so many challenges for Christians” (EA, n. 46). Specifically, he singled out “the increase in divorce, the spread of abortion, infanticide and the contraceptive mentality.” And, he urged the “need to reaffirm ‘that the foundation of human life is the conjugal relationship between husband and wife, a relationship which, between Christians, is sacramental’” (EA, n. 46). 

While powerful NGOs seek to ‘ideologically colonize’ countries like Mexico, a papal trip there could afford the pontiff an opportunity to re-echo themes dear to both Catholic Mexicans and their beloved St. John Paul II. Additionally, such a visit could find him revisiting themes of the World Meeting of Families and this month’s Synod on the Family.

Between October 4 and 24, Pope Francis is meeting with some 270 bishops from around the world, 75 auditors and experts, lay and religious, and 14 representatives from non-Catholic ecclesial communities. They are in Rome for a three week Synod on the “Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and the Contemporary World,” which follows last year’s Third Extraordinary General Assembly on “Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization.”

Monday morning, Synod Rapporteur General, Cardinal Peter Erdo of Esztergom-Budapest, Hungary, delivered a synthesis of the meeting’s instrumentum laboris. Many are already describing his comments as a robust defense of the Church’s Gospel of the Family. Then yesterday morning, Pope Francis clarified that last year’s synodal assembly should be seen in perfect continuity with this month’s meeting. The official documents of last year’s synodal assembly are limited to the pope’s opening and closing remarks as well as the Relatio Synodi, which he stressed should not be read as denying anything in the Church’s teaching on marriage and the family.

It is unclear whether this month’s synodal assembly will terminate in a papal exhortation. Typically, the documents of ordinary general assemblies are signed in Rome. Nevertheless, it would be a beautiful gesture for Pope Francis to sign a declaration on the family in the land of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the pro-life and pro-family movements.