Pope Leo XIV grants Mexico a Jubilee Year thanks to Our Lady of Guadalupe: here are the reasons, dates, and what you need to know

(ZENIT News / Mexico City, 09.14.2026).- Mexico’s National Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe is preparing for a year-long celebration that will place one of the Catholic world’s most beloved Marian devotions at the center of a special period of faith.

Pope Leo XIV has granted the Church in Mexico a Guadalupan Jubilee Year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the new Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the transfer of the sacred image to the present sanctuary in 1976. The jubilee will begin at noon on October 12, 2026, and continue until October 12, 2027.

Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes, Archbishop Primate of Mexico, announced the decision, describing it as a time of grace for the faithful. The concession was made through the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican institution responsible, among other matters, for granting and regulating indulgences.

The choice of October 12 is significant. It marks not only the anniversary of the 1976 transfer of the image but also the 131st anniversary of the pontifical coronation of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

For Mexican Catholics, the anniversary reaches far beyond the architecture of a basilica. The shrine is inseparable from the national history of Guadalupe devotion and from the image traditionally associated with the apparitions to Juan Diego in the 16th century. The new basilica was built to accommodate the enormous number of pilgrims who gather before the image, particularly on major Marian celebrations.

At the heart of the celebration will be the possibility of receiving a plenary indulgence. According to Cardinal Aguiar Retes, Catholics who visit the shrine with devotion and a contrite heart, participate in a liturgical celebration or spend time in prayer there may obtain the indulgence for themselves or apply it to the souls in purgatory. The usual conditions specified by the Church include sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion, recitation of the Creed and prayer for the intentions of the Pope.

The emphasis on pilgrimage is particularly appropriate to a jubilee. In Catholic tradition, a pilgrimage is more than a journey to a religious site: it is a physical expression of conversion, in which leaving home and entering a sacred place accompanies an interior movement toward God.

That theme will be visible from the very opening of the jubilee.

On October 11, the Basilica will hold solemn morning prayers and Mass, followed by Sunday Mass presided over by Cardinal Aguiar Retes. Solemn evening prayer for the dedication of the new basilica will take place at 5 p.m., followed by a gathering of priests.

The following day will bring the formal inauguration of the jubilee. After morning prayers and Mass, a commemorative video recalling the dedication of the new basilica and the transfer of the sacred image will be shown at 11 a.m.

At noon, Cardinal Aguiar Retes will preside over the Mass of the Roses and open the Holy Door, giving the year its most visible symbolic gesture. Priests will continue their gathering during the afternoon, while an archdiocesan Rosary will be prayed at 5 p.m. A commemorative concert marking the 50th anniversary will follow at 6 p.m., with a final Guadalupan Rosary scheduled for 7 p.m.

Further celebrations and events will be announced during the jubilee year.

The cardinal has framed the occasion recalling the words traditionally associated with the Guadalupan message: “Am I not here, I who am your mother?” His invitation is directed not only to Mexican Catholics but to anyone who comes to the shrine seeking prayer, consolation or a renewed encounter with the faith.

Pope Leo XIV’s decision places the Mexican sanctuary within the wider rhythm of the Catholic Church’s jubilee spirituality, while allowing Mexico to celebrate one of its most distinctive expressions of popular Catholic faith on its own terms.

From October 12, the doors of the basilica will remain open for precisely that purpose for an entire year.

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