His Holiness Pope Leo XIV: Guadalupe and the inculturation of the Gospel
File photo of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV at a Eucharistic Celebration on the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe (@VATICAN MEDIA)
In a message to the Theological-Pastoral Congress on the Guadalupan Event, held in Mexico City from 24 to 26 February 2026, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV presents Our Lady of Guadalupe as a model of authentic inculturation and a lasting criterion for the Church’s Evangelizing mission.
Vatican News
The Theological-Pastoral Congress, promoted by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, the Mexican Episcopal Conference, the Knights of Columbus, and the Pontifical International Marian Academy, seeks to renew reflection on the Guadalupan event in preparation for the Jubilee of 2031, marking 500 years since the apparitions to Saint Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill.
In his message, dated 5 February, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV reflects on the manner in which God reveals Himself in history, not as an abstract idea imposed from without, but by entering into human experience and engaging freedom. Evangelization, he explains, means making Jesus Christ present and fostering a living relationship with Him that shapes personal and communal life.
Guadalupe: A model of encounter with Christ
Referring to the Virgin of Guadalupe, the Pope notes that authentic inculturation neither absolutises nor dismisses cultures. Rather, it assumes and purifies them so that they may become places of encounter with Christ. The event of Tepeyac, he indicates, offers a paradigm for proclaiming the Gospel without coercion while preserving the integrity and newness of Christian revelation…
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