The largest Catholic pilgrimage site in the world is in Mexico City. 20 million pilgrims are drawn to the indigenous Mother of God of Guadalupe every year; His feast day is December 12th. The miraculous image in the pilgrimage basilica shows clear parallels with chapter 12 of the story of Revelation. We spoke to two experts about the Marian feast.
Pope Francis, who had to cancel his trip to Dubai this weekend due to illness, will preside over a mass in St. Peter's Basilica on December 12th. The head of the Catholic Church…
The Guadalupe Festival dates back to events in the 16th century. Between December 9 and 12, 1531, in this place that is now Mexico City, Our Lady appeared to a young baptized Indian: Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. The woman with mixed-race facial features, Juan Diego said, described herself in the apparition as the Mother of God. She left an image of herself on the cover of the young man (“Tilma”), which would become world famous.
David Ricardo Ojeda Correa, from the “Instituto Superior de Estudios Guadalupanos”, considers the parallels with Holy Scripture to be significant: “The twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse of the Bible speaks of a woman who is clothed with the sun and has the moon at her feet.” Using a crown of stars and pregnant”, the trained doctor told us. Both the sun and the moon are clearly visible on Juan Diego's cloak in the basilica. “The sun shines behind the dress of the Virgin of Guadalupe. The moon, which some believe to be two black horns, is the moon of a partial lunar eclipse because it is located behind the sun. The constellation of stars we see around her head represents the constellation 'Corona Borealis' (German: 'Crown of the North') north of the celestial equator,” says Ojeda Correa. According to the imagery of pre-Christian religion, the black belt tied around the waist of the “Guadalupana” can be interpreted as a sign of pregnancy.
At the center of dogmas is Jesus Christ
“The dogmas about Mary and her life, as well as about the Virgin of Guadalupe, do not focus only on the Virgin Mary, but lead us to her Son Jesus Christ. Dogmas show us power, love and the history of salvation, at the center of which is Jesus Christ”, explained Marco Mendoza, secretary of the Pontifical International Marian Academy based in Vatican City. A special observatory was installed this year to analyze and interpret apparitions, revelations and stigmata.
David Ricardo Ojeda Correa emphasized: “In the story of the apparition, the Virgin says 'I am the Virgin of Guadalupe'. The word 'Guadalupe' has Arabic roots and means 'ditch that leads to the river'.” the moat and leads us to the river, to Jesus Christ. “She says, 'I want a temple to be built at the foot of this Tepeyac hill, a temple where I can show you and give you my love.'” With this, Ojeda Correa rejects the assumption that the Virgin of Guadalupe would have demanded the construction of a temple for himself. “All Catholics should know that they can love Saint Mary, she is our mother, but especially she is the path that leads us to Jesus Christ.”
The story of the appearance was first published in 1649 by the Mexican priest and lawyer Luis Laso de la Vega. “Nican Mopohua” (in English: Here it is told) tells the appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Nahuatl, the Aztec language.
In 2022, 12.5 million people made pilgrimages to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Mexico City, between December 9th and 12th. This year, Pope Francis will once again celebrate Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on the day of memory of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
(Vatican news – vn)