Ayotzinapa, December 25 (RHC-teleSUR) -- At a mass held by Vatican official Christophe Pierre, parents of the missing 42 Ayotzinapa students have asked Pope Francis for a meeting and for his aid in finding their children.

Parents of the missing Ayotzinapa students asked Papal Nuncio Christophe Pierre to ask for Pope Francis’ intervention in urging President Enrique Peña Nieto’s government to properly search for the missing students.

During the mass at the Raul Isidro Burgos Teachers Training School in Ayotzinapa Monday, the Vatican representative passed on a message from Pope Francis that the pope is praying for the young men who went missing on September 26th.

The parents also asked to be received by Pope Francis at the Vatican in order to tell him personally about their ordeal.

After meeting with the missing students’ relatives, Pierre declared he would hand the pope the parents’ requests.

During mass, the Catholic priest said to the parents and hundreds of people gathered in front of a makeshift altar consisting of 43 empty school chairs with the portraits of the 43 young students: “We share your pain, but as you can see by this Eucharistic celebration in Christmas, to give hope to the people. Pope Francis knows what is happening here.”

Pierre went to Ayotzinapa invited by Acapulco Archbishop Carlos Garfias, who commented on the parents’ request for the Vatican to intervene. He said that every one of the 43 disappeared students’ parents handed him personal letters for Pope Francis, asking him to urge the Mexican government to search and bring their sons back alive.