Pope on Mexican feast day sympathizes with migrant caravans

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has sympathized with the caravans of Latin Americans “seeking freedom and well-being” in the U.S. as he celebrates a major feast day dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe with a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. The first Latin American pope spoke off the cuff in his native Spanish on Monday to denounce the plight facing Latin Americans today and in the past. And he has warned against any ideological exploitation of the image of the Guadalupe Virgin, whose mixed, mestiza complexion has long been held up by the Catholic Church as a positive model of the colonial-era encounter between Europe and the Americas.