“Today we commemorate the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. On this day, forty-five years ago, an attempt was made on the life of Pope John Paul II, and for this reason I have dedicated my catechesis today to the Blessed Virgin Mary,” said Pope Leo XIV in the Audience to the English-speaking pilgrims, and to everyone, in St. Peter's Square.
A special remembrance was also made, as is logical, when addressing the Portuguese-speaking faithful and pilgrims, whom the Pope addressed in this way.
“Today, the liturgical feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Fatima, we turn our gaze to the Shrine, where Our Lady gave the three little shepherds a message of peace.
In this place, so dear to Christianity, numerous pilgrims from the five continents are gathered today: their presence is a sign of the need for consolation, unity and hope of the men and women of our time.
Let us entrust to the Immaculate Heart of Mary the cry for peace and harmony that rises up from all parts of the world, especially from peoples afflicted by war. To all my blessing”.
May he grant us this gift
On Wednesday, the Holy Father resumed the series of catecheses on ‘The Documents of the Second Vatican Council,’ focusing his reflection on the theme ‘Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium. The Virgin Mary, model of the Church’ (Acts 1:13-14).
The reflections on the Virgin Mary contained in Lumen Gentium teach us to love the Church, he pointed out. And before the final blessing, his petition to the Virgin was that “we ask the Virgin to grant us this gift: that love for Holy Mother Church may grow in all of us”.
The Virgin Mary, “perfect model of what the whole Church is called to be”.”
In his catechesis, the Pontiff recalled that “the Second Vatican Council wished to dedicate the last chapter of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church to the Virgin Mary (cf. Lumen Gentium, 52-69). She is “proclaimed as a most excellent and entirely unique member of the Church and as her most perfect type and model in faith and charity” (n. 53).
“These words invite us to understand how in Mary, who under the action of the Holy Spirit welcomed and generated the Son of God made flesh, we can recognize the model, the excellent member and the mother of the whole ecclesial community”.
“In allowing herself to be shaped by the work of Grace, come to fulfillment in her, and in accepting the gift of the Most High with her faith and virginal love, Mary is the perfect model of what the whole Church is called to be: creature of the Word of the Lord and mother of the children of God, generated in docility to the action of the Holy Spirit.”.
The Virgin Mary in the work of redemption, according to Vatican Council II
“The Council has left us a clear teaching on the place reserved for the Virgin Mary in the work of Redemption (cfr. Lumen Gentium, 60-62), the Pope added in the General Audience.
“The Council recalled that the only Mediator of salvation is Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Tim 2:5-6) and that his Blessed Mother “in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather serves to demonstrate his power” (LG, 60).
At the same time, “the Blessed Virgin, predestined from all eternity as Mother of God together with the Incarnation of the Word, [...] cooperated in an entirely impartial way to the work of the Savior with obedience, faith, hope and ardent charity in order to restore the supernatural life of souls. For this reason she is our Mother in the order of grace” (ibid., 61).
French, English-speaking, German, Portuguese...
In his words to the pilgrims of different languages, as usual, the Pope underlined some ideas, although the catechesis is also addressed to Romans, Italians and the whole Church.
For example, in addressing the French-speaking people, he greeted in a special way those from Belgium and France, and prayed that “we ask the Lord to send his Holy Spirit upon each one of us, so that he may renew us more and more and make us aware that we are members of the Church, responsible for her mission”.
Soon, the Ascension of the Lord
He encouraged English speakers: “Let us ask Mary to help us to be faithful disciples of her Son.
He greeted in particular the groups from England, Ireland, Tanzania, India, Indonesia, Canada and the United States of America. He reminded them, in addition to the feast of Our Lady of Fatima and the attempt on the life of Pope John Paul II, that “soon we will celebrate the Ascension of the Lord, which marks the entry of his humanity into heaven.
He conveyed to the German-speaking people that “Mary, ‘image and principle of the Church, which will reach its fullness in the age to come’ (LG 68), help us to love Christ and the Holy Church more and more, and to serve in her the realization of the Kingdom of God that is to come. Holy Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us”.
And after addressing those of Arabic and Chinese language, he reminded the Poles that in these days when children in Poland are approaching the Sacrament of Reconciliation and First Communion for the first time, that “parents, catechists and educators be an example to them by having frequent recourse to the grace of the Sacraments”.
In Italian, Pope Leo XIV encouraged prayers for the mixed international commission for theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, present in Rome for a study meeting.
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