(Eponymous Flower) Upon the “Angel of the Lord” the Pope recalled the anti-Christian persecution in Mexico and the armed struggle of the Cristeros, who fought for the freedom of the Church and religion in a bloody war 1926-1929. Benedict’s desired address breaks a central taboo in Mexico. In political and public life in the Middle-American country it was virtually forbidden to speak of the horrific persecution of Christians in the previous century, when the people were ready to name Christ their true Lord, the Mother of God and to give everything.
“In the times of trial and of suffering many of you were called to be martyrs, who with the cry. ‘Long Live Christ the King and Mary of Guadalupe’ bore lasting witness to the truth of the Gospel and the devotion to the Church.” With the revival of the battle cry of the Cristeros “Viva Christo Rey! Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe”, Benedict XVI impressed his special and completely unexpected stamp and broke a decades long taboo.
