SW News: Catholics around the world would grow in their faith through the power of novena and the devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe transcends all borders and unites different cultures.
On December 7th, the Mexican Church announced that they will hold a worldwide novena for nine years from December 2022 to 2031 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico.
The Novena will officially begin on December 12 during the traditional Mass of the Roses at noon in the National Basilica of Santa María de Guadalupe. It will also have a special mention before the Holy Mass that Pope Francis will celebrate at the Vatican.
According to Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes, Primate Archbishop of Mexico and custodian of the sacred image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the Novena is a celebration of the anniversary of the apparition of the Holy Virgin to Saint Juan Diego at Tepeyac hill.  Juan Diego, a humble peasant of Aztec descent who had converted to Catholicism, saw Our Lady in 1531. Diego informed the bishop that Our Lady had instructed him to have a church built on the hill where she had appeared. But at first, no one believed him; instead, a supernatural sign was required to establish her identity. Our Lady performed the miracle by having roses grow on the hill in the winter, then arranged the roses in Diego's tilma(tunic). As soon as the bishop accepted him, a church was erected on the hill as a result of which millions of Aztec people underwent mass conversion.
The Conference of Mexican Episcopate urged the faithful from around the world to participate in the Novena with special calls to those in Latin America and the Caribbean, the United States, Canada, and the Philippines.
“Remember, O most gracious Virgin of Guadalupe, that in your heavenly apparitions on the mount of Tepeyac, you promised to show your compassion and pity towards all who, loving and trusting you, seek your help and call upon you in their necessities and afflictions. You promised to hear our supplications, to dry our tears, and to give us consolation and relief,” reads one of the prayers for the novena.