So Far From God...: Pilgrimage to Cristo Rey

The Pilgrimage Group from the University Parish

We left the warmth of the bus and set off in the cold clear morning. Our route was through dry thorn covered fields toward the mountain in the distance. We could just make out a figure erected on the hilltop. I have to confess I had my doubts as to whether I could make it. It was an awfully long way a way! And my trekking companions were all about 35 years younger than me!

That's the Mountain of Cubilete in the distance...

In 1926 the statue of Christ the King on the mountain of Cubilete in the State of Guanajuato was bombed on the orders of the Mexican president Plutarco Elías Calles. This was during the Cristeros rebellion caused by the persecution of the Church by the Mexican State. It was replaced in 1940 by the world’s largest bronze statue of Christ.

Our pilgrimage group - sticking together as always!

Now, each year tens of thousands of young people make the pilgrimage to where Cristo Rey towers over the plains. We left Toluca at 12.20am on Saturday. We were a little late so the bus couldn’t get to starting point in the village of Cubilete. This added some 4 or 5 kilometres to our trek. The way was lined with buses from all over Mexico. The fortunate early arrivals were parked high up the mountain.

A bit closer. We're just leaving the normal starting point - 13 kms uphill to go.

The cobble-stone track was a river of young people flowing toward the statue. Most were sporting colourful t-shirts announcing where they were from. Many were singing, thumping drums or strumming guitars.

Unbelievably happy still! And wearing our t-shirt

The day warmed, partly due to the sun coming up but mostly due to the exertion of climbing the 2579 metres to the top. And I was the second of our group to the top. Living at 2750 metres above sea level helps make hill climbs easier! After a brief visit to the chapel underneath the statue we headed for Mass.

Me and my $5.00 hat! Long sleeves a must - the sun burns at that altitude.

On a plateau a hundred metres below the peak the thirty thousand or so celebrated Mass with Archbishop Christophe Pierre, who began his career as a Church diplomat as secretary to the nuncio in Wellington in 1977. I got to speak briefly with him after Mass and he told me he had very fond memories of his time in NZ and his visits to Mount St Mary’s, Greenmeadows.

Part of the 30,000 odd crowd. Mons Cristophe Pierre is the main celebrant

After Mass most of the youth began streaming up to Cristo Rey. Others began the descent. The system is that the buses begin the climb up the track and pick up their passengers as they go – as our bus was so far away we had to wait for more than three hours as a stream of buses filed past us. Still the atmosphere was still very festive. The kids began to swap t-shirts and some of ours found a rather chubby kid who was willing to swap with me! I did quite well out of the deal.

The buses parked on the track up the mountain - the track we climbed.

Once we got on our bus we headed to San Miguel de Allende – a very picturesque town in the same state. We arrived late – I went to bed. The young ones went out on the town. Surprisingly most of them were awake early. After some sightseeing, souvenir buying we boarded the bus back to Toluca and were home by 7.30pm. A great weekend!