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On the 9th of December the Church celebrates St. Juan Diego, an Indian convert, to whom the Virgin Mary appeared as he was going to Mass in Tlatlelolco, Mexico on this date in 1531.

Our Lady asked him to tell the Bishop that she desired a shrine to be built on that place, to manifest her love for all mankind. She left a marvelous portrait of herself on the mantle (cloak) of Juan Diego as a sign for the Bishop. This miraculous image has proved to be ageless, and is kept in the shrine built in her honour, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas.

The lady that appeared to Juan Diego was with child, and during his third visit to Mexico the late Pope John Paul II entrusted the cause of life to her loving protection, and placed under her motherly care the innocent lives of children, especially those in danger of not being born -the unborn.