Our Lady of Guadalupe becomes point of contention in Mexican presidential debate
Our Lady of Guadalupe took center stage during the presidential debate in Mexico this week after candidate Xóchitl Gálvez accused her opponent, Claudia Sheinbaum, of “political opportunism” for wearing a skirt with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, “even though you don’t believe in her or in God.”
Gálvez is running for president for the Fuerza y Corazón por México (Strength and Heart for Mexico) coalition — which brings together the political parties National Action Party (PAN), Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) — and Sheinbaum is running for the Sigamos Haciendo Historia (Let’s continue making history) alliance headed by Morena, the political party founded by the current president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Various surveys released in recent weeks in Mexico place Sheinbaum and Gálvez as the two leading candidates in the campaign for president. Trailing behind is Jorge Álvarez Máynez from the Movimiento Ciudadano (Citizens’ Movement). The election will take place on June 2.
During the third presidential debate on May 19, when the topic of “Migration and Foreign Policy” was addressed, Gálvez made reference to a previous meeting that both candidates had at the Vatican with Pope Francis in February.
“We both had a meeting with the pope; did you tell His Holiness how you wore the Virgin of Guadalupe on a skirt, even though you do not believe in her or in God? Did you tell him that you destroyed a church when you were the Tlalpan borough president? You have every right to not believe in God, it’s a personal issue. What you do not have the right to do is use the faith of Mexicans as political opportunism. That’s hypocrisy,” Gálvez charged.
In response, Sheinbaum said Gálvez’s accusations were “an absolute provocation” to which she would not respond.
According to the Infobae portal, on May 5, 2022, Sheinbaum, then head of the Mexico City government, attended a popular celebration held in the Venustiano Carranza sector of the Mexican capital. During the event, she received gifts, including a skirt with the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, which she later wore during the celebrations in the streets.
