Pope Francis declared – and crowned — the Immaculate Virgin of the Gate of Otuzco: Our Lady of the Gate, “Mother of Mercy and Hope”.
The joyful event came as Pope Francis assured the people of Peru that Mary is a mother who does not abandon her children in remarks at the Marian Celebration – Virgen De La Puerta in Plaza de Armas, January 20, 2018, in Trujillo.
“She is a mother who knows the heart of her Peruvian children from the north and from so many other places,” the Holy Father stressed. “She has seen your tears, your laughter, your desires. In this square, we want to cherish the memory of a people that knows that Mary is a Mother who does not abandon her children.”
The Pope continued his apostolic journey in Peru on with a day of accompaniment in Trujillo in the north of the nation. Before the Marian gathering, he celebrated Mass on the waterfront, toured the Buenos Aires District, visited the city’s cathedral and addressed an assembly of priests, religious and seminarians.
As is his practice, he stopped along the way to comfort the disabled, greet children and wave to a sea of smartphones taking pictures.
“Every community, each tiny corner of this land, is accompanied by the face of a saint, and by love for Jesus Christ and for his Mother,” the Holy Father declared. “If we consider that wherever there is a community, wherever there is life and hearts longing to find reasons to hope, to sing and to dance, to long for a decent life… there is the Lord, there we find his Mother, and there too the example of all those saints who help us to remain joyful in hope.”
He continued by giving thanks for “the attentiveness of our God. He looks for the best way to draw near to each person so that he or she can receive him.”
“Mary continues to defend us and point out the gate that opens for us the way to authentic life, to the Life that does not pass away,” Francis said. “She walks beside every one of her children, in order to lead them home. She accompanies us all the way to the Gate that gives Life, for Jesus does not want anyone to remain outside, in the cold.”
Full Text of the Holy Father’s Remarks
