In simple talks to various groups in the Church, Pope Leo has already clarified so much and his clarifications don’t leave you scratching your head thinking the pope has just talked out of both sides of his mouth. There is only one way to interpret what Pope Leo says and it is what he means. That’s magisterium!
I have embedded my most humble, remarkable comments in red in the text of the pope’s elocution:
This morning, in the Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father Leo XIV received in audience the participants in the Congress of the Pontifical International Marian Academy.
The following is the Pope’s address to those present:
Address of the Holy Father
In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Peace be with you!
Your Eminences, Your Excellencies,
Distinguished Religious, Civil and Military Authorities,
Dear Ambassadors and Scholars of Mariology,
Dear brothers and sisters!
I am pleased to receive you at the conclusion of the Congress of the International Marian Academy. I greet the President, the Secretary, the members of the Executive Council, the collaborators and all the benefactors.
The Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, teaches us to be the holy People of God; hence the importance of this Pontifical Academy, a forum for thought, spirituality and dialogue, tasked with coordinating the studies and scholars of Mariology, in the service of a genuine and fruitful pietas mariana.
At this 26th Congress, you pondered whether the Church’s Marian dimension is a remnant of the past or a prophecy for the future, capable of freeing minds and hearts from the customs and nostalgia of a “Christian society” that no longer exists. You have discussed the goals and values that Marian devotion offers to believers, considering whether they support the hope and consolation that the Church is called to proclaim. You have recognized in the jubilee and in synodality two biblical and theological themes that effectively express the vocation and mission of the Mother of the Lord. (It’s coming, a clearer understanding of what the heck synodality is apart from lobbying, lobbying, lobbying for this, that and the other in a political way, and yacking, yacking, yacking about it to boot and all the money spent by the Vatican to make all of this nonsense happen!)
As a “jubilant” woman, Mary is always ready to respond by first listening to the Word, according to the disposition described by Saint Augustine: “All consult you about what they want, but they do not always hear the answer they want. Your most faithful servant is the one who does not seek to hear from you what he wants, but rather to want what he hears from you” (Confessions, X, 26). As a “synodal” woman, she is fully and maternally engaged in the action of the Holy Spirit, who summons those who previously believed they had reasons to remain divided due to mutual distrust and even enmity as brothers and sisters (cf. Mt 5:43-48). (In one quote from Saint Augustine, Pope Leo clarifies synodality, not only listening to one another, but far more importantly, listening to God and hearing not what we want to hear, but rather what we hear from God! Folks, our Catholic Faith in out in the open, everyone with some prayer and work can discover her teachings concerning the faith and morals of the Church. We can hear what we want or we can hear what God says. Synodality is hearing what God says, which we don’t make up, but receive and it is out there in the open available to all, nonbelievers can hear it in natural law. Believers have that too but also the Deposit of Faith of the Church! Synodality is not about changing God but us!)
A Church with a Marian heart always better preserves and understands the hierarchy of truths of faith, integrating mind and heart, body and soul, universal and local, person and community, humanity and cosmos. It is a Church that does not shy away from asking herself, others and God uncomfortable questions — “how shall this be?” (Lk 1:34) — and to walk the demanding paths of faith and love — “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). (Folks, this is powerful stuff for the proper understanding of synodality. Compare this to what the leaders of synodality at the Vatican have written, which is pure garbage and lacking any coherent understanding of Christ and His Holy Spirit! What they say omits Christ altogether, it is pure garbage!)
A Marian pietas and practice oriented towards the service of hope and consolation frees us from fatalism, superficiality and fundamentalism; it takes all human realities seriously, starting with the least and the discarded; it contributes to giving voice and dignity to those who are sacrificed on the altars of ancient and new idols. (All of us are being sacrificed on the altars of political ideologies opposed to God and Church, LGBTQ+++ ideologies that corrupt the young in mind and body and morals, to those who sacrifice the lives of innocent babies on the altars of pro-choice demons. In the USA political ineptness allowed millions of undocumented migrants to enter the country, most of whom are good people, hardworking and now contributing to our society, only to have a new political ideology sacrifice them not by making legal room for them due to the merits they have indicated, but kicking them out in the most maliciously ways possible! Pope Leo knows this and points it out for those who have eyes to see and hears to hear!)
Since the vocation of the Mother of the Lord is understood as the vocation of the Church, Marian theology has the task of cultivating in all the People of God, first of all, a willingness to “start afresh” with God, his Word and the needs of our neighbor, with humility and courage (cf. Lk 1:38-39). It must also cultivate the desire to walk towards the unity that flows from the Trinity, in order to bear witness to the world, to the beauty of faith, the fruitfulness of love and the prophecy of hope that does not disappoint. Contemplating the mystery of God and history of Mary’s inner gaze protects us from the distortions of propaganda, ideology and unhealthy information, which can never speak a disarmed and disarming word, and opens us to divine gratuitousness, which alone makes it possible for people, populations and cultures to walk together in peace (cf. Lk 24:36, 46-48). (In my most humble opinion, walking towards unity, I prefer “pilgrimage to walking” towards unity isn’t that difficult. Receive the Deposit of Faith and Morals of the Church as these have been handed down, but try to give a rational apologetic for these teachings to modern people, don’t change it to what modern people are getting on the altars of secular idols!)
This is why the Church needs Mariology. It should be considered and promoted in academic centers, shrines and parish communities, associations and movements, institutes of consecrated life, as well as in places where contemporary cultures are forged, valuing the limitless inspiration offered by art, music and literature.
In recent years, the Marian Academy has also launched various initiatives to advance the image and message of the Mother of Jesus as a way of encounter and dialogue between cultures. Indeed, as the perfect cooperator with the Holy Spirit, she never ceases to open doors, build bridges, break down walls and help humanity to live in peace and in the harmony of diversity.
I thank you for this ecclesial service, which continues to remind us that the Church always has a Marian “face” and a Marian praxis. I also congratulate those who have submitted their musical and artistic works for the annual international award “Mary, Way of Peace between Cultures.”
Dear friends, may your Academy always be a home and a school open to all those who wish to place their Marian studies at the service of the Church. For this I pray and offer you my blessing. Thank you.
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