MEXICO CITY – During his visit to Mexico City, Pope Francis will hold mass in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The revered Catholic church is one of the most important pilgrimage sites of Catholicism and is visited by 18 to 20 million people each year. It is Christianity's most visited sanctuary.
The original shrine was built near the hill of Tepevac in the 16th century. That's where Our Lady of Guadalupe, or the Virgin Mary, is believed to have appeared to a Native American peasant named Juan Diego in 1531. She asked that a church be built on the site. The Virgin Mary left behind an image of herself imprinted on Juan Diego's cloak or tilma. It was made of poor quality cloth that should have deteriorated within decades. Instead, 483 years later, the cloak shows no signs of decay.
Through the years, larger, more elaborate structures, shrines and chapels were added on the hillside property. The Old Basilica was completed in 1709 and granted basilica status by Pope Pius X in 1904.
When the Old Basilica became dangerous because its foundations were sinking, a modern structure called the New Basilica was built next to it in 1976.
The New Basilica houses Juan Diego's cloak with the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe. It has a circular floorplan so that the image of the Virgin can be seen from any point in the building.
The New Basilica has nine chapels on the upper floor. Its crypts beneath the main floor house 15,000 niches and 10 chapels. Its seven front doors are an allusion to the seven gates of Celestial Jerusalem referred to by Christ.
The Old Basilica was closed for many years and repairs were made. It is now open to the public.
The original chapel on the exact site of Juan Diego's apparitions still stands nearby.
Pope Francis will be the 26th Pope to visit the site.
