AT A GLANCE
Why go?
The Divine Child Parish Sanctuary — known locally as the Iglesia del Veinte de Julio — is one of Bogotá's most important centers of pilgrimage and popular devotion. Built and maintained by the Salesians in the southern neighborhood of 20 de Julio, it draws thousands of faithful every Sunday who come to pray before a unique image of the Christ Child said to have worked countless miracles.↗↗
The devotion began in 1935 when Salesian priest Juan del Rizzo commissioned a local artisan to craft a statue of the infant Jesus — modifying the well-known Infant Jesus of Prague iconography by removing the cross and painting a face inspired by a child of the workshop. The result is a Divine Child unlike any other in the world, and the faith placed in this particular image has spread from Bogotá to communities across Latin America and beyond.↗↗
A Living Center of Faith
Every Sunday morning, crowds spill from the TransMilenio station at Portal 20 de Julio and flow toward this church like a river finding its banks. The scene is part festival, part supplication: vendors selling rosaries, candles, and holy cards line the surrounding streets; families carry children on their shoulders; elderly women walk slowly with novena booklets worn soft from use. The covered plaza adjoining the church and the neighborhood park fill to capacity when the nave cannot hold everyone.