Millions and millions have arrived at the Basílica de Guadalupe to reaffirm their love and faith in the Virgen de Guadalupe, hope of Mexico; nothing, neither the inclemencies of the weather nor the devastating political climate of the country, has prevented simple faithful, noble souls strengthened by faith, from arriving at the feet of the Immaculate Holy Virgin Mary of Guadalupe; however, this moving display of faith and love arrives at a moment that could be one of the worst crises in the history of the Marian shrine since the 1921 bomb or the closure of public worship due to the terrible covid-19 pandemic.
For several months, the crisis has been contained, but the scandals soon break and overflow. The absence of the rector of the Basílica de Guadalupe, Canon Efraín Hernández Díaz, can no longer hide other suspicions, assumptions, or health hypotheses that compelled him to fail to fulfill his canonical obligations.
The events date back to last September when the Guadalupan chapter, in an act of full responsibility and love for the Virgin, placed in prayer, decided to send a letter to Archbishop Carlos Aguiar that recorded serious facts that would border, consequently, on irregularities typified in the canons of the Church and the possible commission of crimes without, to date, any news of the opening of any investigation file in this regard.
On September 19, the chapter’s letter to Archbishop Aguiar demanded a serious and forceful intervention to remove Canon Hernández in order to initiate investigations not only for the prolonged absence of the Basilica’s rector, but also for alleged and irresponsible decisions that, in the chapter’s judgment, endanger the diligent patrimonial administration of the Sanctuary’s assets, straying from the pastoral, spiritual, and administrative compass, in addition to the risks from the improper possession of documentation that would endanger the security of employees and canons, among other irregularities such as having “advisors,” fully identified, who act as a true mafia of overbearing individuals at the head of murky businesses, covering up aggressive and harmful conduct toward collaborators, both internal and external, to the precinct. All that, the chapter’s document states, would be estimated as a potential scandal ad-intra Ecclesia y extra Ecclesia.
Such facts would have been accepted with a degree of veracity by Archbishop Aguiar who, it should be said in passing, appointed Canon Efraín Hernández and covered up his administration to the unsustainable point. The presentation of the chapter’s letter, at the same private residence of Archbishop Aguiar, warned of an urgent and necessary move: To dismiss the rector of the Basilica and open a canonical investigation immediately led by the judicial vicar of the Archdiocese of Mexico, Auxiliary Bishop Andrés Luis García Jasso.
It was then that on September 20, Aguiar Retes communicated to the canon the decision to remove him. According to the decree with protocol number 817/2025, signed by the archbishop and passed by the faith of Chancellor María Magdalena Ibarrola y Sánchez, Aguiar dropped the guillotine on who had been the man of his confidences while he was useful. Not only that, the decision also dealt another blow, “to cease belonging to the Guadalupe chapter,” retaining the licenses to exercise the ministry.
In the meantime, the decision would bring the appointment of an interim rector, whom Aguiar called “substitute,” falling on the vice-rector and archpriest of Guadalupe, a decision that was communicated to him according to the archbishop’s decree under protocol 890/2025.
However, the effervescence was growing and far from subsiding, the storm was brewing over Aguiar Retes, his favored Efraín Hernández and those who remained in the decision to support the fallen from grace, among them, Auxiliary Bishop Francisco Javier Acero.
The canonical investigation, opened on October 3, 2025, included interrogations of the canons to clarify the facts against Hernández Díaz. Through the preliminary investigation IP 17/2025, it would be known that the tribunal endorsed the application of disciplinary measures and the separation from the rector’s position. On the other hand, the Mexican Episcopal Conference has also shown its concern and, with the pertinent diligence, awaits a canonical conclusion that allows the clarification of the facts and where, still without being fully confirmed, the bishops of Mexico would be ordering an exhaustive audit of the Basilica’s finances.
The above has a concrete cause. As the investigation proceeds, another front is open. And that is Rome’s. The case of has reached the same papal desk and León XIV would have ordered to proceed with the investigation from the Archdiocese of Mexico through the ecclesiastical tribunal. The Pope knows the grave state of the particular church of Mexico. And this dawn of December 12 would confirm the above when, in the beloved mañanitas mass to the Virgin, it was not the rector nor the archpriest who presided over the Eucharist, but the apostolic nuncio himself, Joseph Spiteri, who greeted the millions of faithful in the name of Pope León, a fact that had not happened recently when tradition dictates that the Basilica’s rector lead the midnight mass and the next day in the mass of the roses, the apostolic nuncio concelebrate with the primate archbishop.
This grave crisis is no small matter and deserves special attention. With the decline of the Archbishop of Mexico, there is an accompanying tremendous scandal that, if confirmed by the investigation, would not only splash him, but drench him. Despite pretending financial transparency, the archdiocese and Basílica de Guadalupe are going through an unheard-of opacity that is not in accord with the desires of Pope León. If the facts weighing on the Basilica are confirmed, we would be peering into the gravest case of corruption of a cleric who does not operate for himself, but for others. The pressure, to the point, is on a valve that must be depressurized: Aguiar Retes cannot leave the Archdiocese of Mexico without facing an urgent apostolic intervention and neither throw a time bomb into the hands of his next successor. And thus we arrive at the starting point. Millions and millions arrive at the Basilica surpassing the record of other years perhaps unaware and without knowledge of the tremendous turbulence that clouds the spring of faith, but that same moves mountains and will make truth and justice kiss and prevail (Ps 85:10)… For the good of the Church of Mexico, let whoever falls, fall.