A group of Mexican artists wearing colorful tufts and body paint performed pre-Hispanic dances at the atrium of St. Peter’s Basilica.
Pope Francis
personally greeted the members of the Xipe Totek group in Rome. The group of dancers and artists from Xcaret, in the state of Quintana Roo , took pictures with the head of the Catholic church .
The group featured two dancers wearing large red and green tufts who moved to the rhythm of the exotic instruments being played by their fellow musicians.
The Pope took pictures with a man wearing a banner of the Virgin of Guadalupe .
During his general audience, Pope Francis regretted that Ireland ’s ecclesiastical authorities had not yet responded to the sex abuse scandals during their first public appearance in the Vatican, following the accusation that he had personally covered up the illegal activities of a cardinal in the United States .
During the last day of his stay in Ireland, he was overshadowed by the publication of a testimony by a former apostolic Nuncio who accused Vatican authorities -including the Pope himself- of cloaking the former cardinal Theodore McCarrick in full knowledge of his sexual relations with underage seminarians, which he kept for several years.
In his statements, Francis omitted a part of the speech he had prepared in which he claimed to have prayed for Virgin Mary to intervene and give strength to the church “in the firm pursuit of truth and justice,” and to help heal the victims.
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