Pope Francis celebrates 1,500 years of worship of Saint Mary in the Portico

Pope Francis wrote a message this July 17 for the anniversary of the 1,500 years of worship of the venerated image of Saint Mary in the Portico (Roman Port Security), the “protector of the Eternal City”.

The Pontiff addressed his words to Father Antonio Piccolo, Rector General of the Order of the Regular Clerics of the Mother of God, a Religious Order founded by Saint John Leonardi that has guarded this image since 1601.

The Holy Father took advantage of this occasion to show his closeness to those who participate “in this event so significant for the entire Church of Rome” around this Virgin, “a luminous beacon who has led her children to a safe harbor.”

In his message, released today by the Press Office of the Holy See, he highlighted that the cult of this image “was born after a prodigious manifestation of the Mother of God on July 17, 524 in the house of Saint Galla, a Roman patrician. , in the presence of Pope Saint John I.”

May churches be “a porch open to the world”

Since then, Pope Francis recalled, “the Portico where the noble Galla welcomed the poor and pilgrims, became a Marian sanctuary and hospice of charity.”

He stated that this event is “an invitation to care for and promote the value of welcoming the poor and the last, so that the places we live and the churches themselves are a porch open to the world, in which to offer comfort and help to the multiple forms of destitution that characterize our lives.”

Next, the Holy Father specified that the Virgin “revealed herself at a particularly difficult time for the Church, extending her mantle over Pope John I, who suffered and died for peace without renouncing his faith, becoming a hostage to political plots. and fratricidal wars.”

“Be builders of peace”

Placing his gaze on the conflicts of today, the Pontiff asked himself: “How can we not understand then the urgency of promoting peace, of praying for peace?”

“Invoke peace and be builders of peace above all in your reconciled and reconciling communities,” he urged.

Along these lines, he urged us to look at Mary “as a sign of consolation and sure hope, the maternal face of God and a dwelling place in which to take refuge; because she continually gives us her Son as the only source of concord, hope of salvation, path to peace, absolute imperative of the human quest.”

He also stressed that “the holy pharmacist Giovanni Leonardi founded the Congregation of the Reformed Priests of Mary Most Holy, precisely to return to the Church the apostolic luster of its origins.”

For this reason, he noted that “this commitment to Mary, who lovingly accompanies the path of the Congregation dedicated to Her, is renewed even today and calls all of you to an ever-increasing missionary zeal and to continuous progress in spiritual life.”

Finally, he encouraged “to have in the heart the integral formation of religious people, on a path of progressive conformation to the risen Crucified, the first fruits of redeemed humanity.”

“And, looking to Mary, disciple of Christ and Mother of the Church, may her apostolate be a channel of grace and an instrument for the joyful proclamation of the Gospel,” Pope Francis concluded.