Celebrating as pope his first feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pope Leo offered a prayer to her as her "son," saying, "come to the aid of the Successor of Peter, so that I might confirm those who were entrusted to me in the only path that leads to the blessed Fruit of your womb. Remember this son of yours ..."
[Updated with more of the prayer at the end of the article.]
Last year on this feast, as the president of the Vatican Commission for Latin America and the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, the future Pope assisted the then-Pope at this Mass.
This liturgical feast commemorates the apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 1531 to St. Juan Diego. Our Lady of Guadalupe was first declared “Patroness of the Americas” by Pope Pius XII in 1946, a title later reaffirmed by Saint John Paul II in 1999.
The liturgy this evening combined Latin chants with the folkloric sound of Spanish songs (Leo sang along to "La Guadalupana,") as the second pope from the Americas spoke in Spanish to the several thousand faithful gathered in St. Peter's, most of whom were from the large Latin American diaspora in Rome.
"Tell us how to advance in faith when our strength wanes, and shadows grow. Help us to understand that with you, even winter becomes a time of roses," said Leo XIV in a homily that concluded with a long, personal supplication to Mary, against the backdrop of dramatic international events, marked in particular by the risk of war between Venezuela and the United States.
Pope Leo considered Our Lady as filled with joy and a carrier of joy.
Joyful at the angel's announcement, she understands that God's joy is fulfilled in charity, and so she hastens to Elizabeth's house.
Truly, the words of the One who is full of grace are “sweeter than honey” (Si 24:27 NV). Her greeting alone is enough to make the child in Elizabeth's womb leap for joy, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, asks herself, “Who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Lk 1:43). This joy leads to the Magnificat ... Throughout her life, Mary brings this joy where human joy is not enough, where the wine has run out (cf. Jn 2:3). This is what happens in Guadalupe. At Tepeyac, she awakens in the inhabitants of America the joy of knowing that they are loved by God.
The Holy Father considered that her comforting message of motherhood -- Am I not here, I who am your mother? -- shows us that we are children.
He prayed, "Yes, Mother, we want to be your authentic children: tell us how to advance in faith when our strength fails and shadows grow. Help us to understand that with you, even winter becomes a time of roses."
The end of his homily was a prayer to her, for nations to live in peace, for those who have left the Church and for those who sow discord in Her, for young people, for those who follow Christ more closely.
"Remember this son of yours, to whom Christ has entrusted the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven for the good of all, that these keys may serve to bind and loose, and redeem all human misery," he concluded, echoing the words of John Paul II spoken in 1994 in Syracuse, Sicily.
A Vatican tradition established in 2011
Pope Francis was very committed to the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose late afternoon schedule allows for morning broadcasts in countries across the American continent.
Last year, Pope Francis formally presided over the Mass and delivered a brief improvised homily, but, unable to stand, he asked Cardinal Prevost, the future Pope Leo XIV, to preside on his behalf over the Eucharistic prayer at the newly renovated Altar of Confession.
However, the Argentine pontiff was not the one who initiated this celebration at the Vatican: the tradition dates back to the pontificate of his predecessor Benedict XVI, who celebrated this feast on December 12, 2011, a few months before his trip to Mexico.
The shrine erected on the site of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe welcomes a tremendous number of pilgrims every year, according to some tallies, the 2nd most visited in the world after St. Peter's.
During a conversation with journalists in Castel Gandolfo on November 18, Leo XIV expressed his desire to make a pilgrimage there himself.
He would thus follow in the footsteps of John Paul II, who visited in 1979 and 2002, Benedict XVI, who visited in 2012, and Francis, who visited in 2016.
Here is an Aleteia translation of the concluding prayer of the Pope's homily:
And as your child, I ask you: Mother, teach the nations that wish 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. Instruct their leaders in their duty to safeguard the dignity of every person in every phase of life. Make these peoples, your children, places where every person can feel welcome.
Accompany, Mother, the youngest, so that they may obtain from Christ the strength to choose what is good and the courage to remain firm in the faith, even when the world pushes them in another direction. Show them that your Son walks beside them. May nothing afflict their hearts, so that they may fearlessly welcome God's plans. Keep them safe from the threats of crime, addictions, and the danger of a meaningless life.
Seek out, Mother, those who have strayed from the holy Church. May your gaze reach them where ours cannot, break down the walls that separate us, and bring them back home with the power of your love. Mother, I beg you to incline the hearts of those who sow discord toward your Son's desire that “all may be one” (Jn 17:21) and bring them back to the love that makes communion possible, for within the Church, Mother, your children cannot be divided.
Strengthen families: following your example, may parents educate with tenderness and firmness, so that every home may be a school of faith. Inspire, Mother, those who form minds and hearts to transmit the truth with the gentleness, precision, and clarity that comes from the Gospel. Encourage those whom your Son has called to follow him more closely: support the clergy and people in consecrated life in their daily fidelity and renew their first love. Guard their interior life in prayer, protect them in temptation, encourage them in weariness, and help those who are downcast.
Holy Virgin, may we, like you, keep the Gospel in our hearts (cf. Lk 2:51). Help us to understand that, although we are the recipients, we are not the owners of this message. Rather, like St. Juan Diego, we are its simple servants. May we live with the conviction that wherever the Good News arrives, everything becomes beautiful, everything regains health, everything is renewed. “Those who let themselves be guided by you will not sin” (cf. Si 24:22 NV); help us not to tarnish with our sin and misery the holiness of the Church, which, like you, is a mother.
Mother “of the true God through whom we live,” come to the aid of the Successor of Peter, that I may confirm all those entrusted to me in the only way that leads to the blessed Fruit of your womb. Remember this son of yours, “to whom Christ entrusted the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven for the good of all,” that those keys may serve “to bind and loose and to redeem all human misery” (St. John Paul II, Homily in Syracuse, November 6, 1994). 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. Amen.
