New Year: Pope Francis encourages entrusting 2025 to the Virgin Mary

From St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis invited the faithful to entrust the year 2025 to the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and learn like her to care for life in all its stages, from conception to natural death.

The Pontiff made this call during the homily of the Mass for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, celebrated in the Vatican Basilica and which also coincides with the 58th World Day of Peace.

“Let us then entrust this new year that begins to Mary, Mother of God, so that we too may learn like Her to find the greatness of God in the smallness of life; so that we learn to care for every creature born of a woman, above all protecting the precious gift of life, as Mary did,” the Holy Father stated.

In that sense, he referred to “life in the womb, the life of children, the life of those who suffer, the life of the poor, the life of the elderly, the life of those who are alone, the life of the dying.” .

Pope Francis affirmed that, within the framework of the World Day of Peace, “we are all called to accept this invitation that springs from the maternal heart of Mary: to protect life”, because “to dignify the life of each ‘born of a woman’ “It is the fundamental basis for building a civilization of peace.”

In his homily, the Holy Father explained that the expression “born of a woman” refers to the mystery of Christmas, with which the Word became flesh. “The apostle Paul specifies that he was born of a woman, as if he felt the need to remind us that God became truly man through a human womb,” he indicated.

For this reason, he called not to fall into the temptation, “which attracts many people today and which can also seduce many Christians,” of imagining or fabricating “an ‘abstract’ God, linked to a vague religious idea, to some pleasant emotion.” passenger.”

God “is real, he is human: he was born of a woman, he has a face and a name, and he calls us to relate to him. Christ Jesus, our Savior, was born of a woman; It has flesh and blood; It comes from the bosom of the Father, but is incarnated in the womb of the Virgin Mary; It comes from the top of the sky, but lives in the depths of the earth; “He is the Son of God, but he became the Son of man,” he said.

Furthermore, he indicated, the expression “born of a woman” also speaks “of the humanity of Christ, to tell us that He reveals himself in the fragility of the flesh. He was incarnated in the womb of a woman, being born like all creatures”, showing himself in the fragility of a Child.

Pope Francis recalled that Mary always leads men to the mystery of her Son. “We affirm that He is the Lord of time, but He inhabits this time of ours, also this new year, with His presence of love,” he noted.

In that sense, he assured that the Virgin awaits the men and women in the nativity scene, to show them the God “who does not come in the splendor of the heavens, but in the smallness of a manger.”

“Let us entrust this new jubilee year to her, let us entrust to her the questions, the concerns, the sufferings, the joys and everything we carry in our hearts. She is a mother! Let us entrust the entire world to her, so that hope may be reborn, so that peace may finally flourish among all the peoples of the earth,” said the Pontiff.

The Pope concluded his homily by relating that “in Ephesus, when the bishops entered the church, the faithful people, with staffs in their hands, acclaimed: ‘Mother of God!’ Surely the staffs were the promise of what would happen to them if they had not declared the dogma of the ‘Mother of God’.”

“Today we do not have canes, but we have the hearts and voices of children. Therefore, all together, we acclaim the Holy Mother of God. All together: ‘Holy Mother of God!’, three times. Together: “Holy Mother of God! Holy Mother of God! Holy Mother of God!’” he expressed.