Pope Francis asks the Virgin of Carmen for peace

On the day of the Virgin of Carmen, Pope Francis asked her to give comfort and obtain peace “for all peoples oppressed by the horror of war.”

Like every July 16, the day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel or Saint Mary of Mount Carmel, the Holy Father published a brief message on his official profile on the social network X.

The Pontiff asked the patron saint of sailors and fishermen to “give comfort and obtain peace” for all countries that suffer “the horror of war.”

He especially asked not to forget “the tormented Ukraine, Palestine, Israel and Myanmar”, while encouraging the faithful to pray together for the cessation of conflicts.

The Virgin of Carmen is one of the most universal and ancient Marian devotions of the Catholic Church. There are very numerous places dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the cities in Europe and America that celebrate her are practically countless.

These religious or cultural expressions show the profound impact that Carmelite spirituality has achieved on the People of God, and that today continues to encourage millions of people to love and ask for the protection of the Mother of God.

The promise of Pope Francis to the Virgin of Carmen

In 1990, when he served as superior of the Jesuits in Argentina, Pope Francis made a curious promise to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which remains valid today.

In a interview granted in 2015 To the Argentine newspaper La Voz del Pueblo, Pope Francis assured that he still keeps alive the promise made to the Virgin of Carmen on the night of July 15, 1990, for which he does not watch television.

“I haven’t watched television since 1990. It’s a promise I made to the Virgin of Carmen on the night of July 15, 1990,” he recalled.