Pope calls for dialogue between Cuba and the U.S., and recalls vocation to holiness

- Paulina Guzik, OSV News.

At the Angelus on this first Sunday of February, and the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Pope Leo expressed his “great concern over the news of increased tension between Cuba and the United States of America, two countries that are close to each other”, and invited all those responsible “to promote a sincere and effective dialogue to avoid violence and any action that could increase the suffering of the beloved Cuban people”. 

Following these words, pronounced after the recitation of the Angelus, He prayed that “the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre assist and protect all the children of this beloved land”. 

Beatitudes: “lights that the Lord kindles in history”.”

In his meditation before the Marian prayer of the Angelus, before the thousands of Romans and pilgrims in St. Peter's Square, the Holy Father reflected on the Gospel of the Beatitudes, which the liturgy proposes this Sunday.

The Pope said that “they are lights that the Lord kindles in the darkness of history, revealing the plan of salvation that the Father carries out through the Son, with the power of the Holy Spirit”.

“He is the poor one who shares his life with everyone, the meek one who perseveres in pain, the one who works for peace and is persecuted to the point of death on a cross,” said the Successor of Peter. “In this way, Jesus illuminates the meaning of history; not the one written by the victors, but the one that God accomplishes by saving the oppressed.”.

D.R. Congo, Portugal, Mozambique, O.G. in Italy

The Pontiff also assured of his prayers for the many victims of the collapse of a mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. “May the Lord sustain these people who are suffering so much,” he said. He then encouraged prayers for the deceased and for those who are suffering because of the storms that in recent days have hit Portugal, southern Italy, and also Mozambique, severely affected by floods.

The Winter Olympic Games in Italy, which will begin next Friday, and the Paralympic Games have also been the object of the Pope's attention. Leo XIV wishes “that these great events may constitute a strong message of fraternity and revive the hope of a peaceful world”.

Mosaic of the Virgin Mary, and statue of St. Rose of Lima

The Vatican Gardens yesterday welcomed a new Marian mosaic and a statue of St. Rose of Lima, both created by young artists from Peru. The ceremony thrilled Pope Leo XIV, an American-born pope who holds Peru in “a special place” in his heart, reports Paulina Guzik, international publisher of OSV News.

Calling the ceremony a “joyous occasion” as it rained on the Vatican, the Pope said the donation from the Peruvian bishops, unveiled on the occasion of his ad limina visit, “renews the deep bonds of faith and friendship that unite Peru, a country so dear to me, with the Holy See.”.

Deep ties with Peru

The Ambassador of Peru to the Holy See invited Pope Leo to come to Peru during the ceremony. During the ceremony on January 31, Jorge Fernando Ponce San Roman, shared the “infinite gratitude of all the people of Peru to our Pope Leo XIV for this new expression of affection” by placing the mosaic and statue of Peru's beloved saint in the Vatican Gardens.

Carlos Enrique García Camader, bishop of Lurin and president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference, affirmed that the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Vatican Gardens “will forever represent our people, our Peruvian people, profoundly Marian”. She, the bishop added, “in her various invocations, will represent what Peru is: an unshakable faith, a firm hope and a people marked by charity”.

Don Bosco Artisans

“Gathered in this beautiful place, where everything speaks to us of the Creator and of the beauty of creation, I wish to express my gratitude, first of all, to the artists who created these works and to all those who made it possible for us to enjoy this happy occasion today. And to the entire Salesian Family, precisely on this feast day of St. John Bosco,” said Pope Leo XIII in the Vatican Gardens.

The creation of the two works was entrusted to the Artisan Family. Don Bosco, Ugo De Censi, a community of young artists from the Peruvian Andes, trained in art and religious research by Father Ugo De Censi, a Salesian priest who spent 70 years in the Andes, creating, among other ecclesial works, handicraft schools for disadvantaged youth.

The young Peruvian artist, Edwin Morales, created the sculpture, in white travertine marble from Huancayo, Peru. Lenin Alvarez Medina, responsible for the Virgin Mary mosaic, remembered Father Ugo as someone who changed his life. “He had a profound impact on my life and on the lives of thousands of young people in Italy and South America,” he said of the priest who died in 2018 after founding several seminaries and art schools in the region.

The central image of the Immaculate Virgin of the rich mosaic is surrounded by “seven of the most representative Marian invocations of Peru”, the artist pointed out, “intertwined with the national colors as a symbol of national unity”.

Universal call to holiness

“The two figures evoked, our heavenly Mother and the first Latin American saint, St. Rose of Lima, refer us to the theme of holiness.”, said the Pope at the end of the ceremony of unveiling the two works, which he blessed and sprinkled with holy water.

“These beautiful images that we contemplate today remind us of the greatness of the vocation to which God calls us, that is, the universal vocation to holiness. I encourage you to be, with God's grace, witnesses and examples of that holiness in today's world,” the Pope said. 

“For that is the will of God: our own sanctification (cf. 1 Ts 4,3; Ef 1,4), he added, after citing the Constitution Lumen Gentium, n. 40, of the Second Vatican Council.

“May the Virgin Mary and all the saints intercede on our journey to our heavenly homeland. With gratitude, I bless you from my heart,” the Pope concluded.

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- Paulina Guzik is international editor of OSV News. Follow her on X @Guzik_Paulina

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