Our Lady of Guadalupe in Every Diocese in the United States: The Initiative by the U.S. Bishops You Should Know About

(ZENIT News / Washington, 09.10.2026).- The Catholic Church in the Americas looks ahead to the 500th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 2031 and the bishops of the United States are preparing an ambitious nationwide initiative built around one of the continent’s most powerful Christian symbols: the tilma of St. Juan Diego.

Their proposal is striking in its simplicity. A faithful reproduction of the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe would be enthroned in every Catholic diocese in the United States and then sent on a missionary journey through parishes and communities over the following years.

The initiative is set out in the pastoral plan “One Tilma, One Heart: Walking with Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Footsteps of St. Juan Diego”, part of the 2025–2028 strategic programme of the Intercontinental Guadalupan Novena. Its stated purpose is to encourage a profound spiritual renewal and strengthen unity under the protection of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The project took a significant step forward after bishops from Mexico, the United States and Canada gathered at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Among those involved were Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas, vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Bishop Oscar Cantú of San José, California; Bishop Eugenio Lira Rugarcía of Matamoros, Mexico; and Bishop Pierre Goudreault of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Under the proposed timetable, U.S. dioceses will appoint Guadalupan ambassadors by the end of 2026, begin their initial formation in January 2027 and hold diocesan enthronement ceremonies between February and December of that year. The pastoral mission accompanying the images is expected to continue until the 2031 anniversary.

The original tilma remains in Mexico City, where millions of pilgrims venerate the image associated with the Marian apparitions of 1531 on Tepeyac Hill. The reproductions planned for the United States will be printed on material resembling the original maguey-fibre cloak. Those touched to the authentic tilma will be regarded as third-class relics.

But the bishops’ project is intended to be much more than the distribution of devotional objects. The pastoral plan describes the tilma as a living instrument of catechesis, inviting Catholics to imitate St. Juan Diego by becoming bearers of hope within their own communities.

After each diocesan enthronement, the image is expected to travel through parishes and what the organisers call «contemporary Tepeyacs»: places marked by suffering, exclusion, migration and violence. Local missionaries, known as “little Juan Diegos,” will accompany the image, listen to the needs of communities and help establish small sacred homes dedicated to welcome, reconciliation and Guadalupan formation.

Bishop Robert Brennan of Brooklyn raised the proposal during the bishops’ plenary assembly in June, noting that the reproductions could be obtained at relatively low cost and distributed to bishops in Baltimore in November. Each local bishop would then determine the cathedral or other appropriate place for the initial public veneration.

The U.S. bishops have also published a bilingual rite for the enthronement of the image, originally prepared by the Mexican bishops’ liturgical commission. It provides for a solemn diocesan Mass, a procession, a prayer of consecration and a blessing of the community entrusted to Mary’s maternal protection.

The initiative deliberately looks beyond the 2031 anniversary. The Guadalupan mission is also being linked to preparations for the Great Jubilee of 2033, when the Church will commemorate 2,000 years since the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

That wider horizon reflects an essential feature of Guadalupan devotion: however powerful its cultural importance may be, its purpose is ultimately Christ-centred. The bishops point to the hoped-for renewal of Christian faith through Mary’s mediation, reconciliation among divided communities, a strengthening of Hispanic Catholic identity and the development of Marian sanctuaries as privileged places where hope can be reborn.

They have also recalled Pope Francis’ words on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 2022, when he described even a dark and bewildering age as a time in which salvation remains possible because, through the Virgin Mother, Christ continues to be given to the world.

With the approach of 2031, the bishops’ plan seeks to turn that conviction into a continental pastoral movement. One image in every diocese is intended to become the starting point for something much larger: a journey through communities, wounds and divisions, inviting Catholics across the United States to rediscover the missionary faith embodied in the story of a humble indigenous convert who became the messenger of Guadalupe.

Thank you for reading our content. If you would like to receive ZENIT’s daily e-mail news, you can subscribe for free through this link.