The Pope Entrusts the Holy Year of Hope to the Protection of Mary

The Jubilee Year, officially inaugurated by the Pope on Christmas Eve 2024, has been specifically entrusted to Mary. The Pontiff announced this during the first vespers of the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and the Te Deum in thanksgiving for the past year. This celebration was presided over by the Pontiff in St. Peter’s Basilica on December 31. The Holy Father concluded his homily with the prayer that “Mary, our holy Mother, might help us to walk together, as pilgrims of hope, on the path of fraternity.”

On the first day of the New Year, the Holy Father once again placed humanity under the protection of Our Lady of Hope, at the presence of her statue brought from the sanctuary in Battipaglia, in the province of Salerno. The statue of Mary was positioned in the Basilica near the Papal Altar until January 1.

As Peter’s successor suggests, “Let us entrust this new year to Mary, Mother of God. May we learn, like her, to discover God’s greatness in the little things of life. May we learn to care for every child born of a woman, above all by protecting, like Mary, the precious gift of life: life in the womb, the lives of children, the lives of the suffering, the poor, the elderly, the lonely and the dying”. On this occasion of the World Day of Peace, he reminded us that “this invitation, which flows from Mary’s maternal heart, is one we are all called to accept: to protect life, to care for wounded life—so much wounded life, so much—and to restore dignity to the life of every person ‘born of a woman.’ This is the fundamental basis for building a civilization of peace”.

During the Angelus prayer from the window of the Apostolic Palace, he expressed further inspiring words: “The heart of Mary, the Virgin Mother, corresponds to the newborn Messiah, who manifests the mercy of the Father. This heart is the ear that listened to the proclamation of the Archangel; this heart is the hand of the bride given to Joseph; this heart is the embrace that enveloped Elizabeth in her old age. Hope beats in the heart of Mary, Our Mother; hope beats for the redemption and salvation of every creature.” The Holy Father then continued, “And how can I reciprocate such a great gift with a gratuitous gesture of peace, forgiveness, reconciliation?” As he asked this question, he opened a horizon of concrete love for everyone, to be practiced with simplicity and without hesitation.

The theme of hope that illuminates daily life, is to be experienced every day during the Jubilee that has just begun. This topic was also addressed by the Pope in his Christmas Eve homily after the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, which he humbly crossed in a wheelchair.

“If God can visit us, even when our hearts seem like a lowly manger, we can truly say: Hope is not dead; hope is alive and it embraces our lives forever. Hope does not disappoint!” He summarized, inviting everyone to “set out with the marvel of the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem. The Gospel tells us that, having heard the message of the angel, they “went with haste” (Lk 2:16). In this same way, “with haste”, we too are called to recover lost hope, to renew that hope in our hearts, and to sow seeds of hope amid the bleakness of our time and our world. And there is so much desolation at this time. We think of wars, of children being shot at, bombs on schools and hospitals. Do not delay, do not hesitate, but allow yourselves to be drawn along by the Good News” he advised, with the realism of faith that Mary embodied as an essential witness and whose heavenly intercession is perpetual.

François Vayne

(January 2025)