MEXICO CITY (AP) – Fences block an empty esplanade. Police officers guard the streets. There are antibacterial gel dispensing modules but without people. Image stores, candles and rosaries await customers who do not arrive.
The considered largest Catholic pilgrimage in the world was canceled this year. The basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe – patron of Latin America and which usually receives about 15 million faithful in the first two weeks of December, according to the rulers of the temple – is closed on the day of its great feast, December 12, due to to the new coronavirus pandemic.
Thousands of candles occupied the atrium that traditionally filled pilgrims, dancers and all kinds of faithful who come to fulfill promises, pray for healings or give thanks for favors granted.
“Your children today celebrate you from home,” could be read on the floor.
And at midnight the mañanitas – the traditional Mexican birthday song – were heard prerecorded, virtual.
Pope Francis granted the faithful indulgence so that this year they would not visit the temple and Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes, archbishop of Mexico, urged a different pilgrimage after the traditional one was canceled.
“Let the Virgin visit us in our homes,” he said a few days ago.
This was done by many devotees who the ecclesiastical authorities encouraged to send photos of their personal altars to create a great virtual tribute to the Virgin.
Alejandro Castillo González, a 53-year-old merchant, seven children and great faith in the Virgin of Guadalupe, was one of the faithful who planned to spend this December 12 in his town, San Gregorio Azompa, 120 kilometers east of the basilica a the one that has been on pilgrimage for almost 30 years at this time.
He had to modify his annual routine due to the restrictions of the pandemic but he was happy.
“I am happy,” he said.
The reason is that he was one of those who managed to visit the Guadalupana, as the virgin is popularly known, on the eve of the closing of the temple. “It had been many years since I went to the benches because there is no room for one but thanks to the little virgin this time they gave us permission,” he said.
Since the 16th century, Cerro del Tepeyac – where Catholics believe that the “dark virgin” appeared and the place where the current church was built – has been a point of pilgrimage for millions of people. And although no one remembered the closure of the temple in these December dates, journalistic chronicles from almost a century ago show how the Villa closed its doors for three years, from 1926 to 1929, during the Cristero War, when the State actively persecuted the Catholic Church. It was also closed during the construction of its current headquarters, in the mid-1970s.
This year the gates were closed on Wednesday night to avoid infections by COVID-19 just as the city is experiencing an alarming rebound in the epidemic, with almost 250,000 infected and more than 18,600 dead. The temple is scheduled to reopen on Monday.
Several Mexican bishops made a symbolic pilgrimage through the streets near the temple on Friday, and some of the faithful settled for reaching the fences located on several streets before arriving at the basilica.
“We have to abide by the indications, it is sad but at the same time what the authorities are doing is correct since they protect our health and that of others,” said Jaqueline Castillo, a teacher with her figure of the Virgin in hand.
Among other virtual activities, the basilica suggested to the pilgrims who arrive before closing to leave flowers to remember. But not all could.
Castillo González managed to reach the temple on Wednesday but without the bouquet of flowers collected in the volcanoes that flank the eastern entrance to the capital. Police officers posted on the road took it from him without further explanation, he lamented.
The merchant from the state of Puebla was not distressed. The most important thing was the painting of the Virgin, almost as big as he, which he carried around his back to be blessed, and the company of his young son, 11 years old, who walked by his side.
Police and members of the national guard had stationed themselves at the main entrances of the capital to avoid crowds, but this year there were none.
Castillo González walked for three days on the roads that connect his town with the basilica and only met a handful of pilgrims when other years, processions on foot, on motorcycles, in floats, or even on his knees blocked many accesses and paralyzed media city.
As the merchant explained, as a child he suffered many beatings and mistreatment separated from his family and when he was able to return with her he promised the Guadalupana that he would be grateful by pilgrimage every December 12 to the Villa.
This year he did it three days earlier but got him and his son to receive the blessing, even if they were sprayed with disinfectant first. On Saturday he would pray in his town with his sights set on 2021.
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The Associated Press journalists Diego Delgado and Marco Ugarte contributed to this story.
