The Pontiff was greeted by performing mariachis, blue floodlights, a stage and crowds waving yellow hankerchiefs as he left his chartered plane in Mexico City to met President Enrique Pena Neito and his wife.
Plans for his visit include a message of solidarity for drug violence, human trafficking and discrimination victims in some of Mexico's most deprived areas.
Pope Francis made no public speech at the airport, however, less than an hour after arriving to the papal envoy's home for the night, he emerged to pray for those who had gathered there.
Picture: Pope Francis' skullcap flies off as he walks with Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto and first lady Angelica Rivera
The Roman Catholic leader is due to visit the crime-ridden suburb of Ecatepec in Mexico City where he will highlight the government's failure to solve rampant gangland killings, police corruption, extortion, the disappearances of women and failing city services.
He will also visit the predominantly indigenous state of Chiapas in southern Mexico, before ending his trip in the northern city of Cuidad Juarez, where he will prayer for those who have died trying to cross the border into the US.