December 11, 1999
Web posted at: 11:46 p.m. EST (0446 GMT)

In this story: Letter throws Mexico's church into turmoil Lady of Guadalupe part of nation's identity RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

(CNN) -- As thousands of Roman Catholics throughout North America pay tribute to Mexico's patron saint, a retired abbot is casting doubt on the revered tradition that surrounds her.

Each year on December 12, believers remember a tradition that says an olive-skinned Virgin Mary, known as Our Lady of Guadalupe, appeared in Mexico to an Aztec Indian named Juan Diego in 1531.

According to the story, she left her image behind on Diego's cloak. The apparition is credited with turning millions of polytheist Indians into Roman Catholics.

Now, a retired abbot who served at the Mexico City basilica where the Lady of Guadalupe is enshrined says the Juan Diego story may be false.

In a five-page letter to the Vatican, Abbot Guillermo Shulenburg wrote that there are no documents proving the existence of Juan Diego.

Mexican clergy in the Roman Catholic church have been hoping Juan Diego would be canonized early next year to become the second saint from Mexico.

Guillermo's letter has derailed Juan Diego's canonization process and has thrown Mexico's Catholic Church into a turmoil.

The Vatican's representative in Mexico has questioned the abbot's intentions.

"This is a very particular situation regarding his psyche," said Papal Nuncio Justo Mullor.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is, for many, at the root of Mexico's national identity and its contemporary faith. Mexicans venerate her image, which is both a religious and cultural symbol. It decorates murals, storefronts, even niches in front of houses in Hispanic neighborhoods.

Thousands of pilgrims flock to Mexico's basilica daily to pray to an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, some crawling for blocks on their hands and knees.

The controversy has threatened to result in a religious backlash. "All this back-and-forth, this war of accusations discredits the church as an institution," said Fabiola Guarnero, a religious analyst.

But pilgrims still flock to the basilica by the thousands, more focused on asking the Virgin of Guadalupe for miracles than the controversy that swirls around her.

Mexico City Bureau Chief Harris Whitbeck and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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