Mexico: the unifying force of the Catholic Church

As Pope Benedict XVIth’s Pastoral visit to Mexico unfolds, we follow, from Rome, listening to his words, watching the reaction of the people, taking in the images of a Nation that is obviously overjoyed to welcome the Head of the Catholic Church.


Linda Bordoni discovered that in Rome there is a Church dedicated to Mexican’s patron: Our Lady of Guadalupe.


As a matter of fact, there is much more to it than that, as father Hugh Ryan, vice parish priest of the Church of Santa Maria di Guadalupe and former missionary priest to Mexico explained.


Father Hugh talks of how the Mexican people’s love for their Lady and for the Church is deeply entwined in the history of the nation


He explains that the Church, a gift from the people of Mexico to Rome, was designed in a neo-Romanesque style and completed in 1958.

Its foundation stone was quarried from the hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City, on which the original shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe stands.

The interior is dominated by an icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the apse over the altar and the entire apse wall is made of blue mozaic in her honour, and is decorated with stars.

And Father Hugh speaks of the deep spirituality of the people and of their devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe that has extended across the ocean, and reached well into the hearts of his parishioners – and beyond – here in Rome…

Father Hugh also remembers the emotion of being there when Pope John Paul II travelled to Mexico in 1979.

It was part of the Polish Pontiff’s very first apostolic journey abroad, and the Church in Mexico was still undermined by strict laws which stated that no religious ceremony may be held outside of a church.

listen to the interview..