The Virgin of Guadalupe appeared to St. Juan Diego on the Hill of Tepeyac in Mexico City in 1531, during a time of conflict between the Spanish and the indigenous peoples.
Pope Francis said the Virgin Mary “came to accompany the American people on this hard road of poverty, exploitation, socio-economic and cultural colonialism.”
“She is in the midst of the caravans that are walking northward in search of freedom. She is in the midst of the American people whose identity is threatened by a savage and exploitative paganism, wounded by the active preaching of a practical and pragmatic atheism. And she is there. ‘I am your Mother,’ she tells us,” he said.
When she appeared to Juan Diego, Mary took the appearance of a pregnant native woman, wore clothing in the style of the indigenous community, and spoke in a native language, Nahuatl.
“Thus,” Pope Francis said, “Our Lady of Guadalupe came to the blessed lands of America, presenting herself as the ‘Mother of the true God for whom we live’; and she came to console, to attend to the needs of the little ones, without excluding anyone, to embrace them as a caring mother with her presence, love, and consolation.”
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