The Latest: Mexicans brave chill for pope's biggest Mass

MEXICO CITY (AP) ' The Latest on Pope Francis' visit to Mexico (all times local):9:50 a.m.Pope Francis is starting his second full day in Mexico with a healthy dose of the country's hospitality. There are songs, cheers and chants as he starts his journey to the gritty suburb of Ecatepec, where he'll preside over the largest Mass of his visit.Some of the chants echo those that greeted his predecessor John Paul II, who was especially beloved in Mexico. Among them are calls of "Francis, brother, now you are Mexican," a phrase that rhymes in Spanish.The pope walked out of the nuncio's residence to bless and kiss people waiting there: families with children, people in wheelchairs.He's beaming and animated as he heads out on his motorcade in an open popemobile ' seemingly revived after appearing worn out during Mass Saturday afternoon at the Basilica of Guadalupe.And shortly after leaving, he's stopped to plunge into the excited crowd along the street.___8:10 a.m.Mexicans bundled against the cold are arriving at a huge field in a crime-ridden suburb of Mexico City for what is expected to be the biggest Mass of Pope Francis' five-day trip.After spending his first full day in the grandeur of Mexico City's historic center, Francis is heading to the capital's periphery for a Mass on Sunday in Ecatepec, a sprawling suburb of 1.6 million where drug cartels hold sway and the murder rate, especially for women, is particularly high.Pilgrims sporting white baseball caps wrapped themselves in blankets to guard against temperatures that dipped in to the 30s Fahrenheit (about 3 celsius) as they trudged along the roads leading to the Mass site, a sprawling field that has a capacity of 400,000 people.Francis is expected to offer a message of hope and encouragement for a part of Mexico where extortion and disappearances are a near-daily part of life.Join the conversation about this story
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