"These pilgrimages to Jasna Gora may have given birth to my desire to begin my pilgrim journeys as Pope by visiting a Marian shrine. This desire led me to make my first apostolic journey to Mexico, at the feet of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The love that the Mexicans and the people of Latin America in general have for Our Lady of Guadalupe--a love expressed spontaneously and emotionally, but intensely and profoundly--is very similar to the Polish Marian devotion that shaped my own spirituality. They affectionately call Mary La Virgen Morenita, which can be freely translated as 'the Black Madonna'. There is a popular Mexican song about the love of a young man for a young lady, which the people address to Our Lady. Those melodious words linger in my ears:
Conocí a una linda Morenita ... y la quise mucho.
Por las tardes iba yo enamorado y cariñoso a verla.
Al contemplar sus ojos, mi pasión crecía.
Ay Morena, morenita mía, no te olvidaré.
Hay un Amor muy grande que existe entre los dos, entre los dos...
I met a beautiful dark-skinned woman and came to like her very much.
Evenings--full of love and affection--I would walk to see her.
When I looked into her eyes, my love grew.
O dark-skinned woman, my dark-skinned woman, I will not forget you.
There is a great love between us, between us ...
(John Paul II, Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way, p 55)
