I was asked to join the children’s choir in First Grade, on the edge of Vatican II, and so I began learning some of the well-used Marian Latin Hymns like Salve Regina and Regina Coeli.

This prayer was developed by the Institute Prayer and Ritual Committee in 2021 for communal and individual prayer for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In most cases the reality of women in Latin American countries as well as in the US continues to be oppression and exploitation by political, cultural and religious systems that are predominantly male. For this reason, as Our Lady of Guadalupe is a feminine image, we have the question of whether this devotion is today giving women the same identity and empowerment that, in its time, it gave the indigenous people, to save their dignity and assert their rights as human beings.

This article will explore both religions because they influenced the rise of Christianity and offer a new understanding of Mary’s role in the Church.