Abbot Who Doubted Miracle Resigns

An abbot who challenged Mexico’s most popular religious tradition - the Virgin of Guadalupe’s appearance before an Indian peasant - has resigned as head of the church built to honor her.

The Roman Catholic Church announced Abbot Guillermo Schulemburg’s resignation in a statement Friday. It gave no reason for his departure from the post at the Basilica de Guadalupe in northern Mexico City.

Many Catholics were infuriated when an Italian magazine reported that Schulemburg said Juan Diego, the Indian peasant cited in the legend, “was a symbol, not a reality.”

He also was quoted as saying that Pope John Paul II’s beatification of Juan Diego “is a recognition of a cult. It is not a recognition of the physical, real existence of the person.”