Pope Francis was wrapping up his trip to Mexico today with some of his most anticipated events: a visit in a Ciudad Juarez prison just days after a riot in another lockup killed 49 inmates and a stop at the Texas border when immigration is a hot issue for the US presidential campaign.
He also scheduled a meeting with Mexican workers, grassroots groups and employers in an encounter at which he was likely to repeat his mantra on the need for dignified work for all and "land, labor and lodging."
Francis flew out of Mexico's capital with a final tour in the popemobile and serenades by mariachi bands as he nears the end of a whirlwind five-day visit that has focused heavily on the injustices faced by Mexico's poorest, most oppressed and vulnerable to the country's drug-fueled violence.
He sought to offer comfort while taking Mexico's political and religious leaders to task for failing to do good for their people.
The pope makes a point of going to prisons on nearly every foreign trip, part of his longtime ministry to inmates and his belief that the lowest in society deserve dignity.
He has denounced abuse of pre-trial detention, called life sentences a "hidden death penalty" and urged a worldwide end to capital punishment. As pope, he continues to check in with Argentine prisoners he ministered to as archbishop of Buenos Aires.
In his penitentiary encounters, Francis often urges inmates not to give up hope, telling them that he, too, has sinned and been forgiven.
He criticizes prison overcrowding, the slow pace of justice and lack of rehabilitation.
But he also tells inmates not to let their suffering lead to violence, a message he may repeat given the deadly riot last week at Monterrey's Topo Chico prison, where rival gang factions bloodied each other with hammers, cudgels and makeshift knives.
Eight more inmates were injured yesterday in a brawl at another prison.
Ciudad Juarez's Prison No 3, where Francis planned to speak to inmates and visiting family members, is relatively calm these days. But it has seen violent clashes before that reflected the chaos outside its walls.
Not long ago Juarez was considered the murder capital of the world, as cartel-backed gang warfare fed homicide rates that hit 230 per 100,000 residents in 2010. A rash of killings of women, many of them poor factory workers who just disa.
