“We have particularly noticed this at the end of the second half of last year and all throughout this beginning of the year 2023,” he said.
In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, pilgrimages to the Guadalupe Basilica were suspended. That year, access to the shrine, which traditionally welcomes crowds to sing the “Mañanitas” to the Virgin on the night of Dec. 11, was closed Dec. 10–13.
In December 2021, a year later, access to the Guadalupe Basilica was allowed under a “special protocol.”
Finally, in December 2022, with the reopening of the shrine to pilgrims, a historic figure of 12.5 million visitors was reached.
On Dec. 12, 2022, Pope Francis announced a nine-year novena to the Virgin of Guadalupe as part of the upcoming celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Marian apparitions in 1531.
Martínez noted that in the context of this novena and the upcoming celebration of the “second millennium of redemption in 2033,” the basilica “has resumed a very noticeable vigor in this year 2023.”