In the run-up to Pope John Paul II's fourth visit to Mexico, which starts tomorrow, street traders are raking in record profits on key rings, T-shirts, calendars and gold medals, while construction workers labour round the clock to put the finishing touches to two open-air sites where the Pope will address a million Mexicans.
The visit has raised speculation concerning the political fallout from anticipated public statements, but the burning issue so far is the "scandalous" commercialisation of the Pope's image.
The targets of the controversy are not the pennywise hawkers on Mexico City streets, but the nation's church hierarchy, who struck a deal with 20 multinational corporations, including Hewlett Packard, Pepsi and Federal Express, granting them exclusive publicity rights during the papal visit, in return for a million dollar sponsorship deal which will recoup all the expenses incurred in the trip.
"This isn't an act of commercialisation," said Mr Hector Fernandez, spokesman for the Mexico archdiocese, "it's an attempt to promote the papal message, preserve our values and strengthen the faith of Mexicans."
While Mexican wags contemplated apocryphal advertising slogans such as "God delivers quicker" (Federal Express) "Log on to Jesus and download the Gospel" (Hewlett Packard) or the more risque "Kentucky Fried Pontiff", public resentment has focused on Mexico's own crisp giant Sabritas, which has printed up 90 million images of the Pope and the revered Virgin of Guadelupe.
The images come in a collectable set of 10 cards, sold inside Sabritas crisp packets. On the reverse side of each card is a message from the Pope. The perceived offence is heightened by the fact that in Spanish the word for a crisp, papa, is the same as the word for his holiness, El Papa.
The accommodation, transport and food expenses for the Pope and his entourage will be covered by the financial giant Banamex, which in return will be the sole bank authorised to receive deposits for the purchase of the commemorative papal gold medal, a deal which is expected to cover fully the bank's spending on papal logistics.
Last week a corporate fund-raising lunch was organised by Mr Antonio del Valle, president of Mexico's powerful National Bankers' Association, and attended by Cardinal Norberto Rivera, during which a sheet was passed round inviting business people to sign up for "donations" for various church projects. Cardinal Rivera even appeared in a Sabritas crisp TV commercial.
At the high-powered banker lunch, investors were invited to donate funds for the "Evangelisation Centre for the Guadelupe Basilica", a high-tech spiritual centre, where visitors will witness an interactive hologram and an interactive "apparition" of Juan Diego, the humble peasant boy who first spotted the Guadelupe Virgin on a hillside overlooking the capital in the 16th century.
By the end of the week the church's patience had worn thin at the continued insistence of the press on the papal profit angle. "Don't lose your rag over it," said the Papal Nuncio, Monsignor Justo Mullor, abandoning his usual diplomatic language.
"Everything is clean when clean people are in charge," he added, to general puzzlement.
In a separate pre-papal initiative, the first secretary at the Vatican embassy, Mr Claudio Cicini, turned up at the city airport last week to inaugurate a Boeing 727, specially equipped for the Pope's trip, courtesy of Mexico's national airline, Mexicana, and baptised John Paul II in a permanent homage to the holy father.
"The Pope's image should only be used to awaken true spirituality," said Mr Cricini, as photographers snapped pictures of him with Mr Fernando Flores, director general of Mexicana.
In addition, the organising committee for the papal visit printed 870,000 tickets for each of the three main events, spending $150,000 on a forgery-proof ticket system, a sum which will be returned with interest, thanks to several lucrative offers of sponsorship, according to church officials.
The Pope market has a price within everyone's reach, from a free ticket to the two open-air Masses (snapped up the day they were issued) to gold medals costing $100 apiece.
Guadalajara's Opinion Study centre put the issue to the public, finding 42.4 per cent of people approving the commercialisation of the visit, with 36.2 per cent declaring it "a lack of respect" by the church.
The four-day visit begins tomorrow at 3.15 p.m. local time with an open-air cavalcade from the airport to the papal nunciature.