Free Republic

A day before receiving the Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s highest honor – the “Margaret Sanger Award” – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid a visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, leaving a bouquet of white flowers “on behalf of the American people,” and asking the basilica’s rector, “Who painted it?” In response to Clinton’s question, basilica rector Msgr. Diego Monroy responded, “God!” The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was miraculously imprinted by Mary on the cloak of St. Juan Diego in 1531. According to a report from Catholic News Agency, Msgr....

Hillary Clinton leaves flowers for Our Lady of Guadalupe, asks ‘Who painted it?’ http://www.elmanana.com.mx/upload/foto/8/8/7/06A-02-SUN.JPG Mexico City, Mexico, Mar 27, 2009 / 04:59 pm (CNA).- During her recent visit to Mexico, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an unexpected stop at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and left a bouquet of white flowers “on behalf of the American people,” after asking who painted the famous image. The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was miraculously imprinted by Mary on the tilma, or cloak, of St. Juan Diego in 1531. The image has numerous unexplainable phenomena, such as the...

Three Mexican fishermen who disappeared in the Pacific Ocean nine months ago have been rescued nearly 8,000 kilometres from their home, saying they survived by eating seagulls, drinking rainwater and reading the Bible. A Taiwanese tuna boat scooped the men out of the water about halfway between Hawaii and Australia on Aug. 9. They had drifted all the way from San Blas, a fishing village about 160 kilometres north of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where they were last seen in late October or early November, 2005. Fishermen in San Blas, a hamlet of about 8,000 people, are celebrating the men's astonishing...

The dissident group Catholics for a Free Choice is deceptively using a popular devotional image to promote abortion among Hispanics Catholics, asking Our Lady of Guadalupe to "keep abortion legal." The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is popular among Hispanics because Mary appeared as an Aztec to an Indian convert named Juan Diego in Mexico in 1531. Her image was miraculously emblazoned on his tilma (an Indian garment) as a sign to the bishop to build a Church in Mary's honor. The tilma bearing her image is still hanging in the Church today. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the...

The story begins in the early morning hours of December 9, 1531, when a 57-year-old Indian peasant named Juan Diego was walking along the path of Tepayec Hill on the outskirts of Mexico City. Keep in mind that only 10 years earlier, Hernando Cortez had conquered Mexico City. In 1523, Franciscan missionaries came evangelizing the Indian people. They were so successful that the Diocese of Mexico City was established in 1528. (Remember too that Jamestown, the first permanent English colony, was not established until 1607.) Juan Diego and many of his family members were among these early converts to the...

Latinos' long-revered Virgen de Guadalupe, whose feast day is today, now occupies a place in other denominations.       In some Catholic parishes it's a bigger day than Christmas or Easter: the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Beginning well before dawn, worshipers today will gather to celebrate the brown-skinned mother of Jesus who, legend says, appeared before a poor Mexican peasant in 1531. But the celebration isn't just for Catholics anymore. Increasingly, the pregnant Virgen de Guadalupe is turning up in other Latino-dominated churches as a way to make worshipers feel at home while honoring the...