The Pope prays that Mary will fill believers with hope and open up oases of peace.

- Cindy Wooden, Rome (CNS) 

Pope Leo XIV prayed today before the statue of the Immaculate Virgin in Rome, as his predecessors. And he prayed that Mary would give hope to believers. And that “after the holy doors, other doors would now open in homes and oases of peace, where dignity can flourish again, education in nonviolence is taught, and the art of reconciliation is learned.”.

Standing near the Plaza de España in the center of Rome, at the foot of an imposing column crowned by a statue of Mary, the Pope led thousands of Romans, pilgrims, and tourists in prayer on December 8.

Firefighter Roberto Leo

At dawn this morning, a firefighter named Roberto Leo, the longest-serving chief of the Rome Fire Department, climbed 100 steps of an aerial ladder. He placed a wreath of white flowers on the outstretched arms of the statue, some 90 feet above the ground.

Following a tradition started in 1958 by St. John XXIII, Pope Leo blessed a basket of white roses that attendees placed at the foot of the statue. He read a prayer written specifically for this year's feast, with references to what is happening in the Church, the city, and the world.

May other doors now open

At the prayer To Mary, Pope Leo recalled that the Jubilee Year brought millions of pilgrims to Rome. Representatives of “a humanity that has been tested, sometimes crushed, humble as the earth from which God has formed it and into which He continues to breathe His Spirit of life.”.

“Look, O Mary, at so many sons and daughters in whom hope has not been extinguished: may what your Son has sown in them sprout forth, He, the living Word who in each person asks to grow even more, to take on flesh, face, and voice,” prayed the Pope. .

As the Holy Doors of Rome's major basilicas are about to close at the end of the Jubilee on January 6, he said that “other doors are now opening. Doors of homes and oases of peace where dignity can flourish once again, where nonviolence is taught, where the art of reconciliation is learned.”.

“New Lights in the Church”

The Pope prayed that Mary would “inspire new light in the Church that walks in Rome and in the particular Churches that in each context gather the joys and hopes, and the sorrows and anxieties of our contemporaries, especially the poor and all who suffer.”.

Pope Leo XVI also expressed his hope that baptism, which washes away each person's original sin, “will produce holy and immaculate men and women. Called to be living members of the Body of Christ, a body that acts, comforts, reconciles, and transforms the earthly city where the city of God is being prepared.”.

Mary's intercession in a world full of change

In a world full of “changes that seem to catch us off guard and powerless,” he asked Mary to intercede and help.

“Inspire dreams, visions, and courage, you who know better than anyone that nothing is impossible for God, and at the same time that God does nothing alone,” he prayed.

The Pope also asked Mary to help the Church to always be “with and among the people, leaven in the dough of a humanity that cries out for justice and hope.”.

At the Angelus

Before heading to Plaza de España, the Pope led the recitation of the Angelus at noon with visitors in St. Peter's Square.

By preserving Mary from all stain of sin from the moment of her conception, he said, God granted her “the extraordinary grace of a completely pure heart, in view of an even greater miracle: the coming of Christ the Savior into the world as a man.”.

That extraordinary grace bore extraordinary fruit, he said, “because in her freedom she welcomed it, embracing God's plan.”.

“The Lord always acts in this way: he gives us great gifts, but leaves us the freedom to accept them or not,” said the Pope. “Thus, this feast, which gladdens us with the immaculate beauty of the Mother of God, also invites us to believe as she believed, giving our generous assent to the mission to which the Lord calls us.”.

Prayer of the Holy Father Leo XIV

Hail Mary! Rejoice, full of grace, in that grace which, like a gentle light, illuminates those upon whom God's presence shines.

Mystery surrounded you from the beginning; from your mother's womb, great things began to work in you, which soon required your consent, that «yes» that inspired many other «yeses.».

Immaculate, Mother of a faithful people, your transparency illuminates Rome with eternal light, your path perfumes its streets more than the flowers we offer you today.

Many pilgrims from all over the world, O Immaculate One, have walked the streets of this city throughout history and in this Jubilee Year.

A proven humanity, sometimes crushed, humble as the earth that God fashioned it from and in which His Spirit of life never ceases to breathe.

Look, O Mary, at so many sons and daughters in whom hope has not died: may what your Son sowed spring forth in them, He, the living Word who asks each one to grow more, to take on body, face, and voice.

May the hope of the Jubilee flourish in Rome and in every corner of the earth, hope in the new world that God is preparing, and of which you, O Virgin, are like the bud and the dawn.

After the holy doors, may other doors now open to homes and oases of peace where dignity can flourish once again, education in nonviolence can be taught, and the art of reconciliation can be learned.

May the kingdom of God come, that newness you so longed for and to which you opened yourself completely, as a child, as a young woman, and as a mother of the nascent Church. Inspire new perspectives in the Church walking in Rome and in the particular Churches which, in every context, welcome the joys and hopes, the sorrows and anxieties of our contemporaries, especially the poor and all who suffer.

May baptism continue to produce holy and immaculate men and women, called to be living members of the Body of Christ, a Body that acts, comforts, reconciles, and transforms the earthly city in which the City of God is being prepared.

Intercede for us, who face changes that seem to find us unprepared and powerless. Inspire dreams, visions, and courage, you who know better than anyone that nothing is impossible for God, and at the same time that God does nothing alone.

Guide us forward, with the urgency that once drove your steps toward your cousin Elizabeth and the restlessness with which you became an exile and a pilgrim, to be blessed, yes, but among all women, the first disciple of your Son, Mother of God with us. Help us to always be Church with and among the people, leaven in the dough of a humanity that cries out for justice and hope.

Immaculate, woman of infinite beauty, watch over this city, over humanity. Show her to Jesus, bring her to Jesus, present her to Jesus. Mother, Queen of Peace, pray for us.