CHICAGO (AP) — From small parishes to big cathedrals, Catholics observing the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the U.S. say the celebration is taking on a different tone this year.
Heckel Villa (VEE-yah) works and worships at a suburban Chicago shrine for Mexico’s revered patron saint. She says people are afraid because of President-elect Donald Trump’s aggressive approach to immigration.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops urged churches to make Monday’s holiday a “day of prayer” in solidarity with immigrants and their families. The issue came up during Mass in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles and the University of Notre Dame.
The feast marks the time when millions make the pilgrimage to a Mexican basilica to honor the virgin believed to have appeared to an Indian peasant in 1531.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
