Regina Coeli: the Church is not born isolated

Vatican City, 24 May 2015 (VIS) – As is usual on a Sunday, the Pope appeared at the window of his study at midday today to pray the Regina Coeli with the thousands of pilgrims and faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square.

Before the Marian prayer he again referred to the solemnity of Pentecost, which represents “the baptism of the Church, which thus begins her path through history, guided by the strength of the Holy Spirit”. He continued, “That event, which changes the heart and the life of the apostles and the other disciples, is immediately reflected outside the Cenacle. Indeed, the door that had been kept closed for fifty days is finally opened and the first Christian Community, no longer closed in on itself, begins to speak to the crowds of different origins of the great things that God has done. … And every person present hears the disciples speak in his own language. The gift of the Spirit re-establishes the harmony of language lost in Babel, and prefigures the universal dimension of the apostles' mission”.

The Church “is not born isolated: she is born universal, one, Catholic, with a precise identity but open to all, not closed, an identity that embraces the whole world, without exception. The Mother Church does not close her door to anyone! Not even the greatest sinner! And this is due to the strength and the grace of the Holy Spirit. The Mother Church throws her doors wide open to all, because she is a mother”.

Pentecost is also “the beginning of a new season: the season of witness and fraternity. It is a season that comes from above, that comes from God, like the flames of fire that came to rest of the head of each disciple. It was the flame of love that burned away all bitterness; it was the language of the Gospel that crosses the boundaries set by man and touches the hearts of the multitude, without distinction of language, race or nationality. As on that day of Pentecost, today too the Holy Spirit is continually poured onto the Church and on each one of us, so that we leave behind our mediocrity and narrow-mindedness, and communicate the merciful love of the Lord to all the world … so that as we announce Jesus, resurrected, living and present in our midst, we warm our own heart and the heart of peoples, drawing them close to Him, the path, the truth, and life”.