On the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pope Francis warns against using the mystery of Guadalupe “for ideologies.”
By Kielce Gussie
On the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, about 4,000 people from around the world joined Pope Francis in Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.
“Do not be afraid. Am I not here, I, who am your Mother?” The Pope emphasised the tenderness with which Mary said these words to St. Juan Diego when she appeared to him in 1531 in Mexico. These words, he explained, show “the motherhood of Mary.”
However, the Pope lamented that many people have tried to take the mystery of Guadalupe and “derive ideological benefit” from it.
Three simple things
In his homily, Pope Francis reflected on three aspects of the feast day: the tilma, the mother, and the roses. He highlighted that “Mary’s motherhood is engraved in this tilma, this simple tilma.”
Pope Francis blesses an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe after the Mass on December 12, 2024
The Pope described the beauty of Mary’s motherhood as being revealed in the roses Juan Diego found and carried in the tilma. This motherhood enacts the “miracle of bringing faith to the somewhat unbelieving hearts of the prelates.”
The rest are ideologies
The tilma, the rose, and Juan Diego. “Anything else said about the mystery of Guadalupe beyond this is false,” the Pope warned, and “tries to use it for ideologies.” Pope Francis reiterated that the significance of the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe is to “venerate her” and to truly hear her speaking to us as a mother.
The Pope stressed that the entire message of Our Lady of Guadalupe can be summed up in this line: “Do not be afraid. Am I not here, I, who am your Mother?” This line should be repeated throughout our lives – in the “difficult moments of life, the happy moments of life, the daily moments.”
This is the message Pope Francis encouraged everyone present to take with them: the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the tilma and her words to St. Juan Diego.
History of Our Lady of Guadalupe
On December 9, 1531, Mary appeared to a peasant, Juan Diego, on a hill called Tepeyac in a village near Mexico City. Mary had appeared dressed as an Aztec princess and she spoke to Juan Diego in his native language.
On December 12, in the midst of winter, Juan Diego found a large number of Castilian roses – not found in Mexico – and collected them in his tilma, believing this to be the miracle. When he opened his tilma to show a bishop, a colorful image of Mary has miraculously appeared on it.
The tilma is still preserved in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City and over 12 million people visit it every year.
