Pope Benedict XVI said at a vast Mass yesterday in central Mexico that violence and the “power of armies” would not save people, calling for Latin Americans to instead seek the “higher power” of God.

Evoking a statue of Christ the King, towering over the Bicentennial Park in Guanajuato state, Pope Benedict called on Mexicans to consider the true nature of the “King” they worship, particularly when remembering anti-religious persecution in the region in the 1920s.

“His kingdom does not stand on the power of his armies subduing others through force or violence. It rests on a higher power that wins over hearts: the love of God,” he said before several hundred thousand faithful. “Human strategies will not suffice to save us,” he said, making a comparison with the people of Israel who “became aware of the persistence in its midst of evil and sin as a power”.

“There was nothing left but to trust in God’s mercy and in the hope that He would change from within, from the heart, an unbearable, dark and hopeless situation,” he said, as Mexico faces a wave of drug violence which has left some 50,000 dead in five years amid a military crackdown on organised crime.

The Pope said the people of Mexico and Latin America were experiencing “times of sorrow as well as hope”, without referring to any particular situation.

Pope Benedict finally urged Latin America’s faithful “to overcome fatigue related to faith and rediscover the joy of being Christians”, in a region where the majority Catholicism has seen a drop in numbers in recent years, alongside growing rival religions as well as attitudes which clash with the Church’s views on issues such as abortion or gay marriage.

The 84-year-old Pope has been warmly received during his two days in Mexico, on only his second visit to Latin America.

He leaves for communist Cuba today.