The year 2031 will mark the 500th anniversary of St. Juan Diego’s encounter with Our Lady of Guadalupe. Against the backdrop of preparations for this event, a delegation of bishops from Canada, the US, and Mexico met in Cuernavaca, in the Mexican state of Morelos, from late August to early September.
The bishops placed the meeting “under the protection of Holy Mary of Guadalupe, Mother and Star of the Evangelization of the Americas,” according to a joint communiqué. They also joined each day in the Intercontinental Guadalupan Novena, a nine-year initiative in preparation for the anniversary of the apparitions.
At the end of the meeting, the bishops gathered “at the feet of Holy Mary of Guadalupe” in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Tepeyac, Mexico City. The bishops returned home with full-sized replicas of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has already announced plans to distribute them to every diocese across the country. Each bishop will enthrone it in the cathedral or another location he may designate, as is being done in Mexican dioceses.
These images have touched the original “tilma” of Juan Diego, and are thus third-class relics. They will be enthroned as part of the program of the Intercontinental Guadalupan Novena in the United States.
Intercontinental Guadalupan Novena
This nine-year novena is an example of cross-border collaboration. The USCCB recently published a program outlining the participation of U.S. dioceses in the Novena, which began in Mexico in 2022.
Phase 1 (2027-2028) proposes “missionary activity and catechesis.” Each diocese will inaugurate these activities with the enthronement of the copy of the Guadalupan tilma. The National Eucharistic Congress will kick off Phase 2 (2029-2031). This phase will include Guadalupan events in parishes, and pilgrimages “within dioceses, regions, and to Mexico City,” where the apparitions took place.
Phase 3 (2031-2033) begins with international celebrations of the 500th Anniversary. Two more years of missionary activity and catechesis will follow, tying in with the celebration in 2033 of the 2,000th anniversary of the Resurrection.
The USCCB also has published a pastoral resource to help dioceses throughout these years of preparation: One Tilma, One Heart.
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops will be discussing possible pastoral initiatives to prepare for the anniversary in its upcoming plenary assembly.
Collaboration across the continent on key issues
During the meeting in Mexico, the bishops discussed the “social, political, economic and ecclesial realities of their respective countries,” and the main challenges facing the Church in North America. The joint communiqué describes the meeting as an “experience of communion among brothers” during days of reflection, fellowship, prayer, and celebration of the Eucharist. The bishops also met with local communities.
Discussions touched on a wide range of topics, ranging from inequality and social justice to artificial intelligence, ecumenical dialogue, priestly vocations, and especially migration. Respecting and promoting human dignity was a central theme. The communiqué described it as “essential to the mission of the Church” and an “inseparable part” of that mission.
The bishops identified possible areas of collaboration among the particular Churches of these three countries. Proposals will be presented to the permanent councils of each episcopal conference.
In his homily at the closing Mass, Bishop Ramón Castro of Cuernavaca, president of the Mexican Bishops’ Conference, emphasized that “diversity need not become distance, nor difference division, because we belong to the same Lord.”
