In the midst of the difficult situation facing the Archdiocese of Mexico and the Basilica of Guadalupe, another potential scandal emerges over the use of the Virgin of Tepeyac as a brand and object of profit for a few at the expense of the good faith of the people of God.
A letter has surfaced, headed with the seal and coat of arms of His Eminence Archbishop Aguiar, which appears to point to what has always been the pastoral approach of the Primate of Mexico: that of paying homage to Mammon. On March 25, 2026, during the Solemnity of the Incarnation of the Lord, Carlos Aguiar Retes, who should be the custodian of the Sacred Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, signed an official letter presenting the voluntary work in logistics and fundraising of a curious figure: Martín Achirica Ramos. According to the document, the Guadalupan devotee has been one of those responsible for papal visits to Mexico. Together with the well-known brothers Héctor and Mauricio Sulaimán Saldívar, they offer their entire lives of apostolate as an offering in favor of devotion to Mary of Guadalupe, with a laudable and commendable purpose: promoting that devotion within the framework of the jubilee of the 500th anniversary of the apparitions at Tepeyac, advancing the Intercontinental Guadalupan Novena, and fostering twinning processes among Marian shrines that carry the message of the Guadalupan Event to different parts of the world. In his characteristic tone, the archbishop expresses gratitude for the attention and support for the success of this mission and for the little Virgin, and, of course, for the private coffers.
However, much stands out regarding the public trajectory of Martín Achirica Ramos. It seems that in his life he has combined being a worshiper of God with promoting superstitions, holistic trends, ufological discoveries, and claims about the Nazca mummies presented as non-human bodies of extraterrestrial origin, in collaboration with well-known gurus of the third millennium who have deceived even the Legislative Power itself.
Achirica is the author of the book Open File, in which he details his participation in the analysis and promotion of the Peruvian mummies, and he directs or is linked to SPES Clínica del Alma, where integral health approaches are promoted with quantum, energetic, and holistic spiritual transformation components. Anyone with even a minimum of doctrine knows that these beliefs and activities are incompatible with the Christian faith and spirituality, which does not admit such pantheistic and energetic heresies that dilute the centrality of Christ and His Mother in favor of syncretistic narratives mixing Guadalupan devotion with extraterrestrial mysteries and alternative practices foreign to the Church’s Magisterium.
Who placed the aforementioned figure at the head of the Salvage Project of the Old Basilica of Guadalupe and the tour of the monumental Virgin that has visited the United States and the Philippines, and why, remains without a clear answer. On his social media, on November 4, 2024, he announced the United States tour of his pilgrim Virgin, the same one that was blessed by the former rector of the Basilica, Efraín Hernández, who is under scrutiny, accused of various canonical irregularities that led to the imposition of precautionary measures by the ecclesiastical tribunal of Mexico.
Achirica appears publicly as the commissioner of logistics and fundraising for that project, with links to business meetings and the backing of figures such as the president of Farmacias Similares. The pilgrim experience was his own idea without the support of a public decree detailing Achirica’s powers, limits, and accountability in this project, which raises legitimate doubts about the criteria that led to entrusting him with a mission of such magnitude at the main Marian shrine in the Americas.
Why Archbishop Carlos Aguiar Retes endorsed Achirica’s work with his signature is especially problematic when it is noted that all videos and evidence of that endorsement are no longer available and are not circulating on the social media of the archdiocese or those involved with the same initial visibility; however, such a letter functions in practice as a blank check that allows the use of the name and authority of the Primate of Mexico to solicit economic resources from all sides, of which, to date, the exact amount collected since March 2026, the receiving accounts, the donors, and, above all, whether those resources have been effectively applied to the declared purposes of promoting devotion, advancing the Intercontinental Guadalupan Novena, or twinning shrines, remains unknown. The absence of public financial statements and transparent oversight mechanisms turns the recommendation into a high-risk instrument for institutional credibility.
The Intercontinental Guadalupan Novena is a collegial initiative of the Church whose central objective is to articulate and revive Guadalupan sensibility through prayer, catechesis, and the encounter with God, without its official bodies having requested donations or raised funds in a centralized manner. Any eventual fundraising would require express and collegial authorization from the organizing authorities. Confirmed data indicate that the official bodies of the Novena deny knowledge of Martín Achirica Ramos and the Sulaimán brothers as authorized interlocutors, and that the National Episcopal Conference has neither recommended nor endorsed any fundraising through this initiative by persons outside official channels. Using the name of the Novena to manage resources without such authorization represents an improper appropriation of an ecclesial seal and generates confusion among the faithful, who might assume that their contributions go directly to an officially supported cause, but it is fraudulent.
The accumulation of these elements—the trajectory of Achirica in areas outside Catholic orthodoxy, the opacity, the lack of accountability regarding the managed resources, and the unauthorized use of the name of the Intercontinental Novena—generates a well-founded suspicion that the archbishop’s prestige is being used as an instrument to provide cover for a fundraising operation whose control and final destination remain in the shadows. When the authority of the Primate of Mexico is invoked to endorse economic dealings in the name of the Virgin of Guadalupe and an ecclesial initiative of continental scope, without transparency or alignment with official bodies, the door is opened to an improper use of the sacred that erodes the trust of the faithful and compromises the integrity of the institutions that safeguard the devotion. The Virgin of Guadalupe becomes an object of profit and of sin, that of simony by an archbishop through questionable figures who are as willing to believe in God as in extraterrestrials, angels, and demons.