“Mary Magdalene and other courageous women should encourage us to proclaim and live the Good News everywhere in Europe, was the wish of the Andante European Alliance of Catholic Women’s Organizations, in honor of Saint Mary Magdalene (of Magdala), Apostle of the Apostles, celebrated on July 22, 2020.
In their Newsletter, the Presidents of the Coordination Committee hoped “that, like Mary Magdalene, we will always be fascinated again by Jesus, by His words, His message and His signs.”
Since 2016, by Pope Francis’ decision, the liturgical “Memorial, said “obligatory” of Saint Mary Magdalene, was raised to the rank of “feast,” as that of the Twelve Apostles. It celebrates her as the first “Apostle of Mercy.”
“Among the ‘lost sheep’ that Jesus led to safety, there was also a woman called Mary, a native of the village of Magdala, on the Lake of Galilee, and called because of that Magdalene, stressed Benedict XVI at the Angelus on July 22, 2012 . . . The Evangelist Luke says that Jesus cast out seven demons from her (cf. Luke 18:2, that is, that He saved her from total enslavement to the Evil One. “
The German Pope added: “In what did this profound healing consist that God wrought by Jesus? It consisted in a true, complete peace, fruit of the reconciliation of the person herself and in all her relations: with God, with others, with the world.”
Andante is a member of the European Council’s Conference of Non-Governmental International Organizations. Its members intend to give “a more human face to Europe and to the world.”
Given the COVID-19 pandemic, the Alliance had to cancel its Study Days at Baden-Baden. The next Days will take place at Riga from June 30 to July 5, 2021, on the theme ”Our Voice — Our Lives — Our Future: The Reinforcement of Women and of Women’s Organizations.”
