On feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, pope prays leaders shun lies, hatred, division, disrespect for life
VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV prayed for Mary’s maternal intercession so that she would help nations avoid lies and hatred and instruct leaders to protect the dignity of all human life.
He also prayed that families find strength, young people find meaning and people of faith seek greater communion because “within the Church, Mother, your children cannot be divided.”
In his homily at Mass for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Peter’s Basilica Dec. 12, Pope Leo also asked Mary to support him in his ministry as the successor of St. Peter and “grant that, trusting in your protection, we may advance ever more united, with Jesus and among ourselves, toward the eternal dwelling place that He has prepared for us and where you await us.”
Pope Leo, who spent more than two decades as a missionary in Peru, gave the homily in Spanish and recalled how the Marian apparitions in 1531 in Tepeyac, Mexico, awakened “in the inhabitants of America the joy of knowing that they are loved by God.”
Devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe is deeply rooted in Latin America. According to tradition, Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego, an Indigenous Mexican, and left her pregnant image imprinted on his cloak. It was said she assured him in his native language not to be afraid because, “Am I not here, who am your Mother?” offering protection, health and safety in the folds of her mantle.
“It is the voice that echoes the promise of divine fidelity, the presence that sustains when life becomes unbearable,” especially “amidst unceasing conflicts, injustices and pains that seek relief,” Pope Leo said.
Her motherhood “makes us discover ourselves as children,” and “as children, we will turn to her to ask” what must be done, especially “how to grow in faith when our strength fails and shadows grow,” the pope said. Referring to her son, Jesus, she will “tenderly reply: ‘Do whatever He tells you.’”
Pope Leo then prayed for Mary’s intercession, asking that she “teach nations that want to be your children not to divide the world into irreconcilable factions, not to allow hatred to mark their history or lies to write their memory.”
“Show them that authority must be exercised as service and not as domination,” he said. “Instruct their leaders in their duty to safeguard the dignity of every person during all stages of their life,” and may these people create places “where every person can feel welcome.”
He prayed that Mary would accompany young people so they could find strength in Christ “to choose what is good and the courage to remain firm in the faith, even when the world pushes them in another direction.”
“Holy Virgin, may we, like you, keep the Gospel in our hearts,” he said, and help Christians understand “we are not the owners of this message, but, like St. Juan Diego, we are its simple servants.”
Our Lady of Guadalupe transcends borders, brings us together
Our Lady of Guadalupe continues to bring us together at a time when the world needs “our unity, our friendship and our collaboration” more than ever, said San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller in videos published by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Dec. 12, the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
“The tender voice of Our Lady of Guadalupe continues to echo,” said the archbishop, citing the words the Virgin Mary said to St. Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill in 1531: “I am truly your compassionate mother, yours and of all the people who live together in this land.”
These words, Archbishop García-Siller said, “transcend languages and borders which did not exist at that time.”
“They remind us that Mary is the mother and queen of the new world. After years of war, when many hearts were broken and cultures wounded, God sent His mother as a bridge of mercy,” he said. “Through her presence, millions came to know the true God who gives us life, and her message is as relevant now as it was then.”
“Her image, radiant and mestiza, became a sign of unity, speaking both to the native peoples and to the newcomers, teaching that in the Lord Jesus we are one family, one,” Archbishop García-Siller said. And through her, “this hemisphere lived a process of evangelization perfectly united with its own culture.”
