Pope canonizes Mexico’s most beloved saint

Associated Press

ECATEPEC, Mexico — It’s all over Mexico, in the newspapers and on television: The pope is officially recognizing the country’s most beloved saint, Juan Diego.

For most Mexicans, the move Thursday was simply a formality. In their hearts, there was never any question of Juan Diego’s religious status.

"Before this, I didn’t even know he wasn’t an official saint," Martin Ramirez said, showing his 10- and 12-year-old sons the church built above Juan Diego’s 17th-century home in Ecatepec, one of Mexico City’s many sprawling suburbs.

Although there has been controversy about whether Juan Diego’s story is true, most in Mexico believe he saw a vision of an olive-skinned Virgin Mary on Dec. 12, 1531, while standing on a hill that was also the site of an old Aztec shrine. Miraculously, the vision of a woman in a blue mantle trimmed with gold became emblazoned on his cloak.

Today, believers pack moving walkways that slowly file past that same cape of cactus fibers, on display at Mexico City’s famous Basilica de Guadalupe.

His official move to sainthood came after the Vatican certified that he had performed a miracle in 1990 by answering a mother’s prayers to save the life of her son, who jumped from a building and cracked open the back of his skull.

Juan Diego’s Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico’s patroness and likely the country’s most beloved symbol, is everywhere here. Taxi drivers construct tiny shrines on the floors of their Volkswagen bugs, while street vendors hawk everything from lamps to key chains featuring her likeness.

"She’s our God," Martinez said. "The Spanish didn’t bring her to us."

In fact, some church officials have claimed that Juan Diego’s story was invented by local Indians so they could continue worshipping the Aztec goddess Tonantzin, "Our Mother," whose shrine was located at the same spot where the Virgin was sighted. Critics point out that the Roman Catholic Church largely ignored the apparition for about 120 years.

Two years ago, it was revealed that the former abbot of the Basilica of Guadalupe, Guillermo Schulenburg, wrote a letter arguing that evidence for Juan Diego’s existence was unclear.

But scholarly debates about whether the story is true are lost on the millions of true believers. In mid-December, hundreds of thousands walk, drive or bicycle long distances to the simple stone church and modern chapel, both built above Juan Diego’s mud-walled home, to leave behind prayers and offerings. At the basilica, where the Virgin is said to have appeared, faithful pack the grounds on a daily basis, buying trinkets with the Virgin’s image to remember their trip.

Still, news of Juan Diego’s impending canonization has received little attention from many Mexicans. On Wednesday, only a few people wandered the vast grounds of Juan Diego’s home, and a giant statue of the saint gazed out over an empty chapel.

Constructing a nativity scene at the front of an empty church, employee Elvira Bernal said the canonization hadn’t prompted many visitors.

"The recognition is important, but for the people here, he’s already a saint," she said.

Mexicans worship dozens of saints who have yet to be recognized by the Roman Catholic Church — and many who never will be.

There’s Juan Soldado, or Soldier John, the patron saint of illegal immigrants, and Jesus Malverde, the saint of drug traffickers, to name a few.

But Juan Diego is different, a saint that nearly every Mexican knows and loves.

Natalia Castillo traveled 990 miles to baptize her 1-year-old son, Emiliano Sanchez, at the church above Juan Diego’s home.

"Now that they are going to canonize him, it will be something that (my son) can have with him forever," she said.