
The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe is located in Mexico City, in the northern neighborhood of Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo. The church, an important national monument in Mexico, is also an important shrine for Roman Catholics worldwide, with several millions of pilgrims visiting each year.
The closure of the Basilica on March 18, 2020, hit the parishioners particularly hard as the faithful could no longer receive the weekly comfort of attending mass when they needed it the most.
However, with the help of the Multimedia Foundation and their donation of 13 modern high-tech thermal imaging cameras, the Basilica was able to open its doors on August 24.
These cameras measured the temperature of up to 1,800 people per minute, and with the help of the 14 health checkpoints, also donated by Multimedia, parishioners were able to attend mass again.


With thermal imaging cameras available at the three main doors of the Basilica, the teams were able to read the temperature of a total of 5,400 people in a short amount of time.
Given that the church’s capacity is 10,000 people, measuring the temperature of so many people would have been otherwise impossible without the help of these generous donations of the Multimedia Foundation.
The Pandemic destabilized the balance in every facet of life – but out of chaos, new technical applications and solutions can be created. In this case, Multimedia developed a suite of technological solutions to facilitate health control in municipalities, corporations, and social institutions for individuals to safely access the workplace.
The benefits of this solution include:
- Preventive detection of infections.
- Cases mapping and traceability.
- Gathering complex data that facilitate the decision-making process to contain infections in the workplace.
In times of crisis, people seek the reassurance of spaces that represent security and comfort. The Pandemic deprived many people of these special spaces, like the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
However, through the generosity of the Multimedia Foundation, thousands of people were able to access the spiritual support they needed during these difficult times.
Technology was the facilitator, but empathy and care were the drivers.
Thank you to Multimedia for this story.