Pope's Mexico visit will highlight unresolved problems

Significance

The visit will be his fourth to the Americas (following trips to Brazil in 2013, Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay in July 2015 and Cuba and the United States in September 2015) and will include stops in Mexico City, the neighbouring state of Mexico, and the states of Chihuahua, Chiapas, and Michoacan -- all of which suffer from serious problems of corruption, violent crime, poverty, inequality and human rights abuses.

Impacts

• While the Pope is popular with most Mexicans, his visit is unlikely to reverse the country's trend towards secularism.
• Nevertheless, it may help to improve the Church's image, especially amongst indigenous groups, and slow the progress of Protestantism.
• Neither the government nor the opposition -- both tainted by corruption -- will derive any direct political benefit from the visit.