On July 13, 2026, the General Coordinating Team of the Ninth Intercontinental Guadalupana issued a decree reaffirming the legitimate canonical structures guiding this initiative toward the Guadalupano Jubilee 2031. Amid confusion over parallel appointments and possible fundraising linked to Guadalupana devotion, the document—signed by the same team formally designated in April 2025 with the backing of Archbishop Carlos Aguiar Retes—reminds us that the Jubilee path must be walked “with a true Guadalupano spirit,” in communion and under the collegial guidance of the bishops.
The document welcomes with “profound joy” the steps toward the announced pastoral renewal by the Primatial Archdiocese of Mexico, especially the archdiocesan Commission to strengthen Guadalupana animation, born from the Mexican bishops and inaugurated by Pope Francis on December 12, 2022, “the common home where, in communion and under the collegial guidance of the bishops, the initiatives of all particular Churches converge.”
It highlights that “among the members of this archdiocesan commission, persons who have served from the beginning in the organization and preparation of the Novena should collaborate,” presenting this continuity as a “bridge of communion” between the new local body and the intercontinental path that brings together Churches from three continents. The accumulated experience will enrich the pastoral renewal processes that, accompanied by the maternal presence of the Virgin, “will undoubtedly bear abundant fruit for the People of God.”
The document invites us to continue “with a synodal spirit, in communion and unity,” letting the promise of Tepeyac resonate “to all the inhabitants of this land.” Santa María de Guadalupe must lead us “united, to the encounter with her Son Jesus Christ, the reason and center of the Jubilee we are preparing together.”
The most significant aspect of the communiqué lies in who issues it. The General Coordinating Team that signs it is not a recent or informal structure; it was established on April 27, 2025, through the document titled “In Nomine Domini” of the Mexican Episcopal Conference (CEM) together with the Primatial Archdiocese of Mexico and the Chapter of the Basilica of Guadalupe, signed by Ramón Castro Castro, president of the CEM, and by Archbishop Carlos Aguiar Retes himself.
NOMBRAMIENTO EQUIPO ANIMADOR NOVENA
There, the “singular pastoral, spiritual, and evangelizing transcendence” of the Novena as a path toward the 2031 Jubilee was recognized. Guadalupe was considered a “providential sign for the entire universal Church,” the 500 years an “extraordinary occasion for the renewal of faith and evangelizing impulse,” and it was deemed necessary to coordinate efforts to produce “abundant spiritual fruits.”
The same team was then appointed and is now reaffirmed: Father Eduardo Agustín Aguilar Navarro (Advisor to the Presidency of the CEM); Father Mario Ángel Flores Ramos (Associate Advisor to the Presidency of the CEM and Member of the International Theological Commission); V.C. Eva Sánchez Magaña (Executive Secretary); Father Álvaro Lozano Platonoff (Episcopal Vicar for Pastoral Care of the Primatial Archdiocese); and Canon Horacio Palacios Santana (member of the Chapter of the Basilica of Guadalupe).
The faculties granted include officially representing the Novena before national and international bodies, supervising pastoral, liturgical, catechetical, and missionary guidelines; safeguarding ecclesial communion and fidelity to the Guadalupano charism, coordinating efforts with other Episcopal Conferences, presenting periodic reports, and ensuring the authenticity of expressions of popular piety. All of this “in a spirit of collegiality, co-responsibility, and communion, with full respect for ecclesiastical jurisdictions.”
This framework, established more than a year ago with the signature of the same Archbishop Aguiar, who now promotes the archdiocesan Commission, remains the reference for any initiative seeking legitimate connection with the Novena.
The communiqué gains relevance amid debates generated by parallel authorizations. In March 2026, a letter from Archbishop Aguiar Retes appointed Martín Achirica Ramos, known for publications on supposed mummies of extraterrestrial origin and holistic approaches questioned from the Catholic faith, as responsible for logistics and fundraising in Guadalupano projects, including references to the Novena. The collaboration of brothers Héctor and Mauricio Sulaimán Saldívar was also mentioned.
Bodies linked to the Novena pointed out that there is no specific mandate for these persons to act as authorized interlocutors or to manage centralized donations using its name. The Novena is, according to its documents, a path of prayer, catechesis, and pastoral renewal without centralized fundraising or authorization for private collections.
The use of the Virgin of Guadalupe for fundraising without transparency or the established canonical framework generated concerns, especially when it involves figures whose trajectories are difficult to reconcile with Catholic doctrine and spirituality.
The preparation of the Fifth Centenary is not a folkloric anniversary. It is, as Pope Francis expressed, an extraordinary grace for the Church in America that demands profound conversion, renewed catechesis, and prophetic witness before secularization and the violence that lacerate Mexico. The constitution of commissions and the integration of those who have worked from the beginning are positive steps if they are inserted into ecclesial communion and avoid duplication or lack of transparency.
The 2031 Jubilee will be fruitful if the Church discerns the authentic impulses of the Spirit—those that lead to Christ through Mary—from those that, under the appearance of devotion, end up diluting the Gospel or exposing the community to avoidable scandals.
Less than five years from the great Jubilee, the Church in Mexico has the opportunity and responsibility to demonstrate that devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe can be a motor of profound, synodal, and transparent evangelization, or become a field of confusion if communion and truth are not zealously safeguarded, but with a special emphasis that does not use what everyone wants to hear without concrete results: synodality, dialogue, and, above all, much transparency, which is what has been least provided in recent months at the Basilica of Guadalupe.