Monsignor Daniel Víctor Villalobos Ortiz has been appointed the new rector of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Basilica in Mexico City by the primatial archbishop of Mexico, Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes.
A canon of the basilica and episcopal vicar for the clergy since August 2024, he was named exorcist for the Marian shrine in February of this year.
In a July 12 statement, Aguiar announced the appointment “after hearing the proposals presented by the Venerable Chapter of Guadalupe and the Permanent Council of the Mexican Bishops’ Conference.”
The cardinal commissioned the rector to lead a “new phase of institutional and pastoral renewal, with the collaboration of all the priests, deacons, consecrated persons, and lay faithful who serve at this beloved shrine.”
The cardinal also expressed his “gratitude for the service rendered” by the outgoing rector, Monsignor Efraín Hernández Díaz, whose resignation he accepted.
According to the Archdiocese of Mexico, the shrine receives around 35 million pilgrims each year. During the Guadalupe celebrations in December 2025 alone, some 13 million visitors came to the shrine, according to figures from the Mexico City Government Secretariat.
Who is the new rector of the basilica?
Born in Mexico City on Aug. 10, 1968, Villalobos was ordained a priest on July 12, 1998, at the basilica itself by the then-prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, Colombian Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos.
From 1997 to 2008, he served as an assistant to the then-archbishop emeritus of Mexico, Cardinal Ernesto Corripio Ahumada.
Throughout his ministry, he has held various pastoral assignments in parishes in the Mexico City boroughs of Xochimilco, Tlalpan, Coyoacán, and Álvaro Obregón.
In August 2024, he was appointed a canon of the basilica and episcopal vicar for the clergy of the Archdiocese of Mexico.
Since February 2026, he has served as an exorcist at the basilica.
The start of ‘a phase to update and improve’
The basilica, Aguiar noted in his statement, “holds a privileged place in the life of our local Church and in the hearts of millions of pilgrims”; therefore, “any decision regarding this sacred site must always have as its aim to strengthen its evangelizing mission and the service it offers to the people of God.”
“We have begun a phase of updating and improving administrative, operational, and pastoral processes at the Basilica of Guadalupe,” the cardinal added, taking “as a reference the updates promoted by Pope Francis for the papal basilicas of St. Mary Major in Rome and St. Peter in the Vatican.”
In the case of the Marian shrine, which houses the tilma bearing the image of the Virgin Mary on which it miraculously appeared nearly 500 years ago, the renewal now underway “will help distinguish the pastoral mission from administrative operations,” thereby consolidating an institution that is “more efficient and organized.”
Aguiar also stated that, since last year, “various administrative and operational reviews” have been conducted at the basilica and that the Mexican Bishops’ Conference, the apostolic nunciature, and the Holy See were all informed of them.
“These reviews, routine in the life of any institution, have made it possible to identify opportunities to strengthen evangelization efforts, internal organization, and the services provided daily to millions of pilgrims,” continued the primatial archbishop of Mexico.
“Let us allow the words that have sustained our people’s hope for nearly five centuries to resonate once more in our hearts: ‘Am I not here, I who am your mother?’” he encouraged.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
