As part of June’s month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a lay-led initiative has brought large images of Christ’s heart to billboards across Mexico. The campaign’s goal is to share a message of faith and hope in public spaces. Motorists and pedestrians in Mexico City, State of Mexico, Puebla, Guanajuato, and Jalisco are seeing the Sacred Heart with phrases like “I trust in You.”Though inspired by the same devotion, each state’s displays are promoted by different groups.
In Guadalajara, one of the campaign’s largest hubs, activist Brenda Lourdes del Río organized the effort with a businessman and friends she calls “brothers in faith.” They installed 12 billboards, each 12 meters by 8 meters, in visible parts of the city. The message there reads: “Fear nothing, I will be your strength.” Del Río said the intent is to capture attention and hearts, and to recall Mexico’s historic tie to the devotion. The Catholic Church consecrated Mexico to Christ the King on January 11, 1914, and in 1926, at the start of the Cristero War, the Mexican Episcopate made a national consecration to the Sacred Heart.
The campaign also highlights the 12 promises associated with devotion to the Sacred Heart, based on 17th-century private revelations to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Among them are graces for each state of life, peace for families, comfort in affliction, and a safe refuge in life and at death. Jesus also promised to bless places where his image is displayed and venerated, which directly inspired the billboards.
“Our grandparents and great-grandparents enthroned images of the Sacred Heart in their homes, and today they are missing from our homes and those of our children, and we see the cruel consequences that affect Mexico,” Del Río said. The message, she added, is that “only by returning to God will we have peace.” That reflection comes amid ongoing violence. The six-year term of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador ended as one of Mexico’s most violent, with nearly 200,000 homicides recorded from December 1, 2018 to Sept. 30, 2024, according to T-ResearchMX’s “MX: The War in Numbers” report. Since President Claudia Sheinbaum took office, more than 41,000 homicides have been recorded. For Del Río, the campaign is a reminder that “if the people love and honor Christ, there will be peace, but if they cast him out of their hearts, we experience violence and death.”