Sheinbaum Reaffirms Invitation for Pope Leo XIV to Visit Mexico, in Meeting With Cardinal Pietro Parolin

ByAlma E. Muñoz and Enrique Méndez

This article by Alma E. Muñoz and Enrique Méndez originally appeared in the August 5, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Mexico City. President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo insisted to the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, with whom she met for more than an hour at the National Palace, that Pope Leo XIV visit Mexico.

At the mañanera, she recalled that she had written a letter with the invitation at the time, and that on December 12

“I had the opportunity to speak with the Pope, and now that we are receiving this visit, which is very important, we are going to insist on the Pope’s visit to Mexico.”

Beyond what he represents for the Catholic people, “today the Pope also represents a vision of a debate we have been having here, related to digital platforms and Artificial Intelligence (AI).”

She stressed that the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, on AI, “is a global reference point for a debate about who controls those platforms, who defines the content, how the algorithms are designed, and where we are heading as humanity. It is a very important debate at the planetary level, and in Mexico we are having it.”

Thus, “beyond his religious representation, and evidently in Mexico there is a separation of Church and State, and it will always be so, there is a very important reference that he is representing in the world with respect to this reflection. He himself even calls for public regulation of Artificial Intelligence and for everyone to recognize what the impacts are and who they are benefiting.”

In this way, she maintained, the Pope “is a point of reference at the international level on this and many other humanitarian issues, and we are going to insist that he is warmly invited to our country.” The Pope’s representative arrived at the National Palace at 9:55 and departed at 11:10.