Guatemalan Catholics celebrate Black Christ devotion

Father Jesus Raya Custodio presided along with Father Steven Bauer, pastor of St. Alphonsus Parish, at a Mass to celebrate Nuestro Senor de Esquipulas, also known as the Cristo Negro or Black Christ of Esquipulas, Guatemala, on Jan. 14, 2024, at St. Alphonsus. The original sculpture of the Black Christ arrived at a small church in Esquipulas in 1595 and is a representation of Christ in agony on a baroque style cross with a crown of thorns and colored stones. Over the centuries, its popularity grew in significance in the spiritual and political lives of Guatemalans as well as other Central and South Americans. St. John XXIII elevated the Esquipulas Shrine to the category of basilica in1961. During his second apostolic visit to Guatemala on June 24,1996, St. John Paul II visited the basilica to commemorate the four hundred-year anniversary of the veneration of the Black Christ. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)