(Vatican Radio) As we know May is a month dedicated in a special way to Our Lady.
And as we know too right from the very start of his pontificate Pope Francis entrusted
his ministry as Successor of Peter to Our Lady making a surprise visit to Rome’s Basilica
of Saint Mary Major on the day after his election.
He also made a point when
returning to his own continent for the first time as Roman Pontiff to repeat this
gesture by adding a visit to a Marian Shrine to his already tight schedule. Listen
to this feature presented and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick:
Listen:
It was while
he was in Brazil for World Youth, the date was the 24th of July 2013 and
the place, one dear to him: Aparecida.
The event began at the Basilica of
the Shrine with a brief moment of prayer in the Chapel by the Hall of the Twelve
Apostles where an image of Our Lady is housed and it ended with an Act of Consecration
to Our Lady of Aparecida. A consecration which took place at the end of the Holy Mass
celebrated in Portuguese with the local Bishops. During his homily on this occasion,
Pope Francis highlighted in a special way his Marian devotion entrusting to her the
people of the Latin American continent.
In the course of his homily during
Holy Mass, at what he described as the house of the Mother of every Brazilian, he
said: “When the Church looks for Jesus she always knocks at his Mother’s door. I
too have come here to knock on the door of the house of Mary, so she may help us pass
on to future generations those values necessary to build both a more just and fraternal
nation and world".