Fatima, Portugal, May 12, 2017 / 11:37 am (CNA/EWTN News).- During his first day in Fatima, Pope Francis led pilgrims in prayer, asking that the Immaculate Heart of Mary would watch over the joys and sorrows of all mankind as they make their earthly pilgrimage.
“In the depths of your being, in your Immaculate Heart, you keep the joys of men and women as they journey to the Heavenly Homeland. In the depths of your being, in your Immaculate Heart, you keep the sorrows of the human family, as they mourn and weep in this valley of tears.”
“In the depths of your being, in your Immaculate Heart, adorn us with the radiance of the jewels of your crown and make us pilgrims, even as you were a pilgrim,” he said May 12 at the Chapel of the Apparitions.
Pope Francis led the prayer to Mary at the beginning of his two-day pilgrimage to Fatima in Portugal May 12-13 to celebrate the centenary of Mary's appearance to three shepherd children in 1917.
During the visit, the Pope will also lead the recitation of the rosary at the prayer vigil. In the morning on May 13 he will celebrate Mass, presiding over the canonization of two of the Fatima visionaries, Francisco and Jacinta Marto.
The prayer was prayed in five verses, while in between the assembly sang the refrain, in Latin: “Ave O Clemens, Ave O pia! Salve Regina Rosarii Fatimae. Ave O clemens, Ave O pia! Ave O dulcis Virgo Maria!”
The Pope prayed the first four verses himself and for the last was joined by those present. The beginning of each verse was addressed to Mary by a different title, including “Mother of Mercy” and “Hail, life and sweetness, hail, our hope, O Pilgrim Virgin, O Universal Queen!”
“With your virginal smile, enliven the joy of Christ’s Church. With your gaze of sweetness, strengthen the hope of God’s children. With your hands lifted in prayer to the Lord, draw all people together into one human family,” he prayed.
The Pope’s prayer frequently recalled the traditional Marian prayer called ‘Hail, Holy Queen.’
“Hail Holy Queen, Blessed Virgin of Fatima, Lady of Immaculate Heart, our refuge and our way to God!” he said. “O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary, Queen of the Rosary of Fatima!”
He asked for the grace to follow the example of Bl. Francisco and Jacinta, and everyone who has devoted themselves to proclaiming the Gospel.
“Thus we will follow all paths and everywhere make our pilgrim way; we will tear down all walls and cross every frontier, as we go out to every periphery, to make known God’s justice and peace.”
Praying for the intercession of the “Lady robed in white,” he recalled all those who are robed in the “splendor of their baptism” and who desire to live in Christ.
“And so we will be, like you, an image of the column of light that illumines the ways of the world,” he prayed, “making God known to all, making known to all that God exists, that God dwells in the midst of his people, yesterday, today and for all eternity.”
“Show us the strength of your protective mantle. In your Immaculate Heart, be the refuge of sinners and the way that leads to God,” he said.
“In union with my brothers and sisters, in faith, in hope and in love, I entrust myself to you. In union with my brothers and sisters, through you, I consecrate myself to God, O Virgin of the Rosary of Fatima,” he concluded.
“And at last, enveloped in the Light that comes from your hands, I will give glory to the Lord for ever and ever. Amen.”
Article Archive
Let's be guided by Mary's Immaculate Heart, Pope says in Fatima
Related Articles • More Articles
null / Credit: terazitu/ShutterstockSt. Paul, Minn., May 11, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).Jerry Laughlin, 46, who took over a fifth-generation farm near Imogene, Iowa, in 1999 and hopes to move more into farming crops for food rather than industrial use, is grateful for his Catholic faith amid the challenges of farm life. Seeing farming as a sacred profession is exactly what an "epic apostolate" founded 100 years ago aims to foster. Laughlin is considering, with his pastor, Father Lazarus Kirigia, starting a chapter of Catholic Rural Life at his parish.Built on Archbishop Edwin O'Hara's vision and philosophy of Catholic rural life, it continues his legacy of helping the rural Church promote U.S. farming and how it can foster virtuous living, while it also grapples with problems the archbishop identified a century ago, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan said at a May 8 anniversary event titled "Rejoicing in the Harvest: Celebrating 100 Years of Catholic Rural Life" at the University of St...
Archbishop J. Michael Miller celebrates Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Delta before the March for Life in Victoria, British Columbia, on May 9, 2024. He prayed that they "may be worthy and effective messengers of hope." / Credit: Paul SchratzVictoria, Canada, May 11, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).At a pro-life Mass before the March for Life in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, Vancouver Archbishop J. Michael Miller prayed that those heading to the British Columbia Legislature "may be worthy and effective messengers of hope to a world where self-centeredness, greed, violence, and cynicism so often seem to choke the fragile growth of grace in people's hearts."The acceptance of abortion in particular in the law and the popular mind is "a telling sign of an extremely dangerous crisis of the moral sense, which is becoming more and more incapable of distinguishing between good and evil," the archbishop said.He told the pro-life worshippers that they are "praying in a special way that rever...
A powerful tornado hit St. Mary's Catholic Church in rural Barnsdall, Oklahoma, on May 6, 2024. / Credit: Daniel McCay/Eastern Oklahoma CatholicCNA Staff, May 11, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).A rural Oklahoma parish hit this week by a powerful tornado suffered serious damage, especially to its parish hall. But amid the rubble, broken glass, and winds possibly as high as 175 mph, the church's tabernacle containing the body of Christ remained intact.Father Emmanuel Nduka, who pastors three local churches including St. Mary's, told CNA that the tabernacle's survival served as a sign of God's presence amid the devastation in the small Oklahoma town of Barnsdall."God is in control. There's no reason why our church should be standing after what happened in Barnsdall Sunday night," the priest told CNA.Nduka lives in a neighboring town 30 minutes from Barnsdall, but early on May 7, as soon as he heard about the damage to the church, he raced over. No one was in the church building at the...