As part of the Vigil of the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality, this October 11, Pope Leo XIV presided over the recitation of the Holy Rosary for peace in St. Peter’s Square.
After Pope Leo toured the square, greeting the thousands of pilgrims, the singing of the Veni Creator took place, followed by the recitation of the Joyful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. The Marian prayer was recited from the atrium of St. Peter’s Basilica, which also contained the original statue of Our Lady of Fátima that arrived in procession from Cova da Iria (Portugal).
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Leo XIV placed at the feet of the Virgin of Fátima the first Golden Rose of his pontificate.
After praying the Holy Rosary, the Pontiff led a meditation in which he invited people to contemplate “the human and evangelical virtues” of the Virgin, to imitate them and achieve an authentic Marian spirituality.
In imitation of her, who was “the first believer,” Catholics are called to beg “the gift of a heart that listens and becomes a fragment of a cosmos that welcomes.”
“Through her, Painful, Strong and Faithful Woman, let us ask that the gift of compassion reach us towards every brother and sister who suffers, and towards all creatures,” the Pope said.
“Let us contemplate the Mother of Jesus and the small group of brave women at the foot of the Cross, so that we too may learn to remain, like them, next to the infinite crosses of the world, where Christ continues crucified in his brothers, to bring them comfort, communion and help,” he added to the praying crowd.
The Holy Father assured that in the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality, “our hope is illuminated with the soft and persevering light of Mary’s words that the Gospel tells us.” Of all of them, he continued, the most important are the last ones spoken by the Blessed Virgin when the wine ran out at the Wedding at Cana.
Do what He tells you
“Afterwards he will not speak again,” the Pope said. “These words, which are almost a testament, must be very dear to the children, like any testament of a mother,” he added.
With this invitation, the Blessed Virgin was sure “that her Son will speak” and that “his Word has not ended,” but rather “continues to create, generate, filling the world with springs and the amphorae of the festival with wine.”
“Mary, like an indicative sign, guides beyond herself, shows that the point of arrival is the Lord Jesus and his Word, the center towards which everything converges, the axis around which time and eternity revolve,” said the Holy Father.
With her words, the Mother of God also recommends that we fulfill the Gospel, that we manage to convert it “into gesture and body, into blood and flesh, into effort and smile.” Thus, Pope Leo said, “life will be transformed, from empty to full, from off to on.”
Comply with the entire Gospel, which is “a demanding word, a comforting caress, a reproach and a hug.” Fulfill “what you understand and also what you do not understand,” because the Virgin “exhorts us to be like the prophets: not to let a single one of their words fall into the void,” the Pontiff assured.
The Pope also recalled that the Lord Jesus calls us to peace, one that is “disarming and disarming” and that will not come “as the fruit of victories over the enemy, but as the result of sowing justice and fearless forgiveness.”
Jesus’ message is also addressed to the powerful of the world, who guide the destiny of so many people:
“Have the audacity to disarm yourselves! And at the same time it is also addressed to each one of us, to make us increasingly aware that we cannot kill for any idea, faith or politics. The first thing to disarm is the heart, because if there is no peace in us, we will not give peace,” said Leo XIV.
Look at the world with the eyes of someone who suffers
The Pontiff recalled that Jesus “does not have thrones, but rather wraps himself in a towel and kneels at the feet of each one,” because his empire “is that small space that is enough to wash the feet of his friends and take care of them.”
From that example, the Pope assured, believers must “acquire a different point of view” from which they can “look at the world from below, with the eyes of those who suffer, not with the optics of the powerful.”
To see reality from the perspective of the most vulnerable, the poorest, because otherwise “nothing will ever change and a new time will not emerge, a kingdom of justice and
peace,” he expressed.
“The Virgin Mary also does so in the song of the Magnificat, when she directs her gaze to the points of fracture of humanity, where the distortion of the world occurs, in the contrast between the humble and the powerful, between the poor and the rich, between the sated and the hungry,” added the Holy Father.
The Blessed Virgin “chooses the little ones, she takes the side of the last in history, to teach us to imagine, to dream together with her of the new heavens and the new earth.”
After encouraging everyone to set out and build “the conditions for a future of peace” without becoming discouraged, Pope Leo concluded with a prayer to the Virgin and then gave way to Eucharistic Adoration.
Andres Henriquez
I was born in Caracas in 1996. I have been a writer for ACI Prensa and a correspondent for EWTN since 2023. Since then, I have covered events in the Catholic Church in Venezuela, Latin America and the world. I have more than 6 years of experience in bilingual media. Furthermore, in Venezuela I have worked in various areas in favor of freedom and respect for fundamental rights in the country. I have been a member of the Regnum Christi Federation since 2014.