07012014Tue
Last updateFri, 27 Jun 2014 12pm

Pope accepts invite to visit Mexico

President Enrique Peña Nieto has announced that Pope Francis has accepted his invitation to visit Mexico on an as yet unspecified date.

Peña Nieto met with the Pope in a private meeting at the Vatican on June 7, part of a three-nation tour that also included Spain and Portugal.

Vatican watchers immediately speculated that the visit will probably be scheduled around a planned visit to the United States in September 2015.

Peña Nieto said that while Mexico remained a secular nation, it was assuredly not “anti-religious.”

The last census confirmed that eight out of ten people in Mexico regard themselves as Roman Catholic.

According to one news source, this week, Pope Francis has specifically asked if he could visit the U.S.-Mexico border area.