Through Mary, Latin America can move toward conversion, renewal

Festive music, dancing and prayers in honor of Mary echoed through St. Peter's Square as hundreds gathered to commemorate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The sounds of Mexican mariachi brought much needed warmth on a chilly Roman morning Dec. 12 to honor the patroness of the Americas and the Philippines whose apparition to St. Juan Diego on Tepeyac hill in Mexico continues to bring hope in uncertain times.

"This experience must be repeated over and over again," Pope Francis told pilgrims during his Sunday Angelus address. "In this way, God, who is communion, will move us toward conversion and the renewal of the church and of society that we need so much in the Americas — the situation in many Latin American countries is very sad — as well as throughout the world."

Waiting to hear the pope's words, pilgrims stood near the famed obelisk in the center of the square where a large replica of St. Juan Diego's tilma, which bears the image of Mary, stood adorned with white roses and surrounded by the flags of all the countries of Latin America.

Among those present to mark the feast were Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, and Venezuelan Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, substitute secretary for general affairs in the Vatican Secretariat of State.

Several pilgrims were dressed in traditional Indigenous clothing while others reenacted the moment when, in 1531, St. Juan Diego unfurled his mantle and revealed the miraculous image of Mary.