Pope to visit Mexican states hit by violence

Pope Francis will visit Mexico's violence-plagued states of Michoacan and Chihuahua as well as the impoverished region of Chiapas during his February visit, the foreign minister said Wednesday.

While the Vatican has yet to provide details of the trip, Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu announced that the Argentine-born pontiff will visit those three states as well as Mexico City.

The pope will have "different activities in different states of the Republic," Massieu Ruiz told reporters, adding that he will meet with President Enrique Pena Nieto.

The pope, who is expected to arrive on February 12, will visit some of the hot spots in Mexico's drug war.

The western state of Michoacan was so afflicted by the pseudo-religious Knights Templar drug cartel that local avocado and lime farmers formed vigilante militias in 2013.

The northern state of Chihuahua is home to Ciudad Juarez, a city at the US border that was once known as Mexico's murder capital, though the murder rate has dramatically dropped there in recent years.

The southern state of Chiapas is one of the country's poorest regions with a large indigenous population. It is also a major transit route for migrants who illegally cross the Chiapas-Guatemala border.

The choices of Chihuahua, which borders Texas, and Chiapas may also be linked to the pope's interest in the plight of Mexican and Central American migrants heading to the United States.

The Vatican has only confirmed that the pope will travel to Mexico next year and that he will visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a major Roman Catholic shrine in Mexico City.

Related to the story

Pope's Central Africa trip 'risky' - France