The Mexican edition of Playboy magazine, published mere days before the major Mexican festival dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe (an apparition of the Virgin Mary) featured a nude model posed to resemble the Virgin Mary and triggered a prompt apology from the U.S. headquarters of the company.

The magazine hit news stands on December 1, just as ceremonies began, leading up to the Friday Pilgrimage to Mexico City basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe. It showed a model wearing only a white cloth covering her head and breasts.

The cover showed her in front of a stained glass window, and the cover line read “We adore you, Maria” in Spanish. The model’s name is Maria Florencia Onori.

The Virgin of Guadalupe is an apparition of the Virgin Mary, said to have appeared to an Indian peasant in the sixteenth century. She is the most significant Mariological apparition in Latin America, and the annual pilgrimage to her shrine in Mexico City is one of the largest religious events in the world.

According to the statement made by the Chicago-based Playboy Enterprises Inc., the Mexican edition of Playboy is published by a licensee and the company did not approve or endorse the cover.

"While Playboy Mexico never meant for the cover or images to offend anyone, we recognize that it has created offense, and we as well as Playboy Mexico offer our sincerest apologies," the statement said.

The justification given by Raul Sayrols, publisher of Playboy Mexico in a statement was that "The image is not and never was intended to portray the Virgin of Guadalupe or any other religious figure. The intent was to reflect a Renaissance-like mood on the cover."

100,000 copies of the issue were printed by Playboy Mexico.