Vatican City, 21 November 2014 (VIS) –
The Holy Father has sent a message to Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi,
president of the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Council for
Coordination between the Pontifical Academies, on the occasion of the
19th Public Session of the Pontifical Academies, devoted to the theme
“Mary, icon of the infinite beauty of Dios Marialis cultus and the
Marian teaching of Blessed Paul VI”, organised by the Pontifical
International Marian Academy.
In his message, the Pope spoke about
Blessed Paul VI's great love for the Virgin Mary, which he expressed
on many occasions during his papacy, as well as in several documents,
including his two encyclicals, Mense Maio and Christi Matri,
dedicated to the Mother of God and the worship of her as Mater
Ecclesiae. He also devoted three apostolic exhortations to Mary:
Signum Magnum, Recurrens Mensis October and, finally, Marialis
Cultus, published forty years ago this year.
“On the eve of the fiftieth
anniversary of the closure of Vatican Council II, established by Paul
VI – not by chance – on the Solemnity of the Immaculate
Conception, 8 December 1965, it is beautiful that you wish to make
his voice through the recording of the homily in which he entrusts
the fate of the Church, radically renewed through the Council assize,
to Mary. On that solemn and historical occasion, Paul VI wished to
commend the entire Church to Mary as the Mother of God and our
spiritual Mother”.
Similarly, Francis recalled that in
crucial and difficult moments for the Church and for humanity, Paul
VI always turned to Mary, exhorting the people of God to pray for her
intercession and protection, and invoking the gift of peace. “In
the wake of the Synod of Bishops on new evangelisation, in the
apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, I too entrusted the way of
the Church to Mary's maternal and caring intercession, reminding all
believers that there is a Marian style to the evangelising activity
of the Church, as every time we look to Mary we believe again in the
revolutionary power of tenderness and affection. In her we see that
humility and tenderness are not virtues of the weak but rather of the
strong, who do not need to mistreat others to feel important”.
The Holy Father continued, “Let us
not tire of learning from Mary, of admiring and contemplating her
beauty, of letting ourselves be guided by her, she who leads us
always to the original source and fullness of authenticity: infinite
beauty, that of God, revealed to us in Christ, Son of the Father and
Son of Mary”. The Pontiff concluded by awarding the Pontifical
Academies Prize to the Italian Interdisciplinary Mariological
Association, above all for more than twenty years of publishing the
journal Theotokos, and the Pontifical Medal to the “Centro mariano
de difusion cultural” of the Order of the Servants of Mary, in
Mexico.
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