An estimated 5.2 million people drove, biked, walked and crawled to the sprawling Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico City on Tuesday to commemorate the Virgin´s appearance to an indigenous campesino nearly 500 years ago.More than 2,600 pilgrims were treated for mostly minor medical conditions, including a mother who gave birth to a baby boy at the entrance to the basilica, the Mexican news agency Notimex reported.
Authorities from Mexico City´s Gustavo A. Madero precinct, where the basilica is located, said the worshippers arrived in 613 separate pilgrimages over two days from across the country, under the watchful eye of 1,400 city and 400 federal police officers.
According to Roman Catholic tradition, the dark-skinned virgin appeared to the indigenous campesino Juan Diego on a Mexico City hillside in 1531, soon after the Spaniards had introduced Catholicism to the indigenous population. The image of the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared on Juan Diego´s cloak, which remains on display at the basilica.
The afternoon Mass offered by Archbishop Norberto Rivera was packed with the faithful spilling out into the plaza.
Many of the pilgrims came to give thanks to the Virgin for her help in alleviating illness or personal problems. Others were inspired by devotion and respect for the Virgin, who by papal decree is patroness of all the Americas, particularly of Latin America.
Many of the worshippers came from remote villages, walking for days to reach the basilica and then crawling on their knees across its cement plaza.
In 2002, John Paul II canonized Juan Diego as the first indigenous saint of the Americas, part of efforts by the church to counter Protestant gains in the traditionally Catholic region.
