UNESCO’s Cultural Heresy: Mexico’s Syncretized Passion Play Declared “Heritage”
EWTN News reports (December 14, 2025) that UNESCO declared the Iztapalapa Way of the Cross—an annual Holy Week event in Mexico City—a “Cultural Heritage of Humanity.” The article quotes Edaly Quiroz of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History, who describes the reenactment as a manifestation of “unity, faith, and resilience” and a “collective exercise of memory, identity, and participation.” Juan Pablo Serrano, custodian of the local “Lord of the Little Cave” image, claims the event fosters “conversion” among non-Catholics. The tradition allegedly began in 1833 after villagers vowed to reenact Christ’s Passion following a cholera epidemic they attribute to a miracle. The 2025 celebration drew 2 million attendees, including non-Catholics.