Pope ends Marian month praying for his collaborators

(June 01, 2012) May the spiritual joy that enables Christians to persevere amidst tribulations, at the end of May be stronger in our souls, in our personal life, in every sphere, but especially in the life of this family which serves the universal Church from here in the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI express this wish Thursday evening in the presence of a small group of cardinals, prelates and Vatican employees who joined him in the annual Marian procession and the rosary prayer inside Vatican City to conclude the Marian month of May. Commenting on the ‘Magnificat’ of the Virgin Mary on the day the Church celebrates the feast of her Visitation to Elizabeth her cousin, the 85-year old Pope said that the prayer that rises from the entire people of God denounces the illusion of those who believe themselves to be the masters of history and arbiters of their destiny. “On the contrary,” the Pope said, “Mary placed God at the centre of her life and abandoned herself in complete trust to God’s will in humble docility to his plan of love.” “All of us need always to learn form our heavenly Mother,” the German Pope said, adding, “her faith is an invitation to look beyond the apparent and firmly believe that the daily difficulties are preparing for us a springtime that has already started with Christ’s Resurrection. Moreover, joy which is the fruit of the Holy Spirit is a fundamental mark of a Christian: it is based on hope in God, it draws strength from incessant prayer, and it permits us to face tribulations with serenity, the Pope added.
The Holy Father’s remarks came amid turbulence within his own household, with the arrest last week of his butler for allegedly stealing confidential papal letters and documents and leaking them to the media. The butler, Paolo Gabriele, a 46-year-old layman, will next week begin to be formally questioned by magistrates. In his first public remarks on the scandal on Wednesday, the Pope expressed "sadness" at the events - but also accused the media of blowing them out of proportion and "offering an image of the Holy See which does not correspond to reality." However, he expressed firm trust in his close collaborators in this crisis.