The Pope underscored two aspects of Elizabeth, the woman under the sign of sterility and under the sign of fecundity.
The Argentine Pontiff said we can perceive it thus in the little Indian Juan Diego, when he said to Mary” I, in fact, am not worth anything,..”
“So this sentiment can also be – as the Latin American Bishops made us see – in our “Indian and Afro-American communities which, on many occasions, aren’t treated with dignity and equality of conditions; or in many women, who are excluded because of their sex, race or socio-economic situation; young people who receive a low-quality education and have no opportunities to make progress in their studies or to enter the labor market to develop themselves and form a family; many poor people, unemployed, migrants, displaced, landless peasants, who try to survive in the informal economy; boys and girls subjected to child prostitution often linked to sexual tourism.”
The Pontiff called on all people to look at the richness and cultural diversity of our peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, noting “it is the sign of the great richness that we are invited not only to cultivate but, especially in our time, to defend courageously from all attempts to homogenize.”
“In short, our fecundity calls us to defend our peoples from an ideological colonization that cancels the richest part of them, whether they are Indians, Afro-Americans, mestizos, peasants or suburbanites.”
The Mother of God, Francis said, is the figure of the Church and “from her, we want to learn to be Church with a mestizo face, with an Indian, Afro-American, peasant face, or a boy or girl, old or young man, so that no one feels sterile or unfruitful, so that no one feels ashamed or a little thing.”
But, on the contrary, so that each one, like Elizabeth and Juan Diego, feels him/herself bearer of a promise, of a hope, and is able to say from his/her innermost being: “Abba!, namely, Father!”
Pope Francis concluded, saying: “in this atmosphere of grateful memory for our being Latin Americans, let us sing in our heart Elizabeth’s canticle, the song of fecundity, and let us say it together to our peoples not to tire to repeat: Blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”
The Eucharistic celebration was broadcast live on the Vatican YouTube Channel – and remains available there for replay. The booklet for the Mass can be downloaded here: Ordine servizio – Guadalupe_12dic-.
The Argentine Pontiff said we can perceive it thus in the little Indian Juan Diego, when he said to Mary” I, in fact, am not worth anything,..”
“So this sentiment can also be – as the Latin American Bishops made us see – in our “Indian and Afro-American communities which, on many occasions, aren’t treated with dignity and equality of conditions; or in many women, who are excluded because of their sex, race or socio-economic situation; young people who receive a low-quality education and have no opportunities to make progress in their studies or to enter the labor market to develop themselves and form a family; many poor people, unemployed, migrants, displaced, landless peasants, who try to survive in the informal economy; boys and girls subjected to child prostitution often linked to sexual tourism.”
The Pontiff called on all people to look at the richness and cultural diversity of our peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, noting “it is the sign of the great richness that we are invited not only to cultivate but, especially in our time, to defend courageously from all attempts to homogenize.”
“In short, our fecundity calls us to defend our peoples from an ideological colonization that cancels the richest part of them, whether they are Indians, Afro-Americans, mestizos, peasants or suburbanites.”
The Mother of God, Francis said, is the figure of the Church and “from her, we want to learn to be Church with a mestizo face, with an Indian, Afro-American, peasant face, or a boy or girl, old or young man, so that no one feels sterile or unfruitful, so that no one feels ashamed or a little thing.”
But, on the contrary, so that each one, like Elizabeth and Juan Diego, feels him/herself bearer of a promise, of a hope, and is able to say from his/her innermost being: “Abba!, namely, Father!”
Pope Francis concluded, saying: “in this atmosphere of grateful memory for our being Latin Americans, let us sing in our heart Elizabeth’s canticle, the song of fecundity, and let us say it together to our peoples not to tire to repeat: Blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”
The Eucharistic celebration was broadcast live on the Vatican YouTube Channel – and remains available there for replay. The booklet for the Mass can be downloaded here: Ordine servizio – Guadalupe_12dic-.
