The Basilica of Guadalupe received at least 11 million pilgrims: Sheinbaum

Mexico resumed the massive pilgrimage to the Basilica for the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupecelebrated this Monday with 11 million faithful, after it was suspended in 2020 due to the pandemic and in 2021 it suffered restrictions, reported the head of government of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum.

Of the eleven million attendees, “five million” parishioners attended the temple in “the last 24 hours” and “some 10,000 spent the night in the atrium of the temple” in tents, which was prohibited last year, reported the chief of the capital’s government at a press conference.

According to the police, it has been one of the celebrations where more people have come,” added Sheinbaum.

In 2019, the temple, located in the northern sector of Mexico City, received more than 10 million faithful.

One of the most important activities of the pilgrimage takes place in the first minutes of every December 12, when the pilgrims sing the mornings accompanied by mariachis.

Parishioners come from remote locations and even from abroad, mainly Latin America, to spend a few seconds before the image of the Virgin Morena.

They begin to arrive days before the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, some on foot, by bicycle or in large caravans. Many of them enter on their knees to the image of the Virgin.

According to Catholic tradition, the image of Guadalupe that can be seen in the Basilica was miraculously embodied in the ayate (rectangular blanket of coarse cloth) worn by the indigenous Juan Diego, canonized in 2002, to whom religious accounts say she appeared.