Pope Francis opened the new year by highlighting in his homily for the Jan. 1 feast of Mary, Mother of God, and his Angelus message the same day, the central role women have played in salvation history and that they still have for bringing peace to the world of the 21st century.
Addressing a congregation of seven thousand Catholics from all continents gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica on New Year’s Day, including cardinals, bishops, women and men religious, lay people, and ambassadors from the 184 countries that have diplomatic relations with the Holy See, Francis spoke about the role God gave to women in the history of the world, and the important role women have to play today in both the church and society.
He began by reminding them, “God becomes man, and he does so through a woman, Mary. She is the means chosen by God, the culmination of that long line of individuals and generations that ‘drop by drop’ prepared for the Lord’s coming into the world. She stands at the very heart of the mystery of time. It pleased God to turn history around through her, the woman.”
“The Mother and Child mark a new creation, a new beginning,” the pope said; “the Lord, a tiny child in his mama’s arms, has united himself forever to our humanity, to the point that it is no longer only ours, but his as well.”
Pope Francis, speaking in a strong voice after recovering from bronchitis, said, “The church needs Mary in order to recover her own feminine face” which, he said, means making “space for women and [being] ‘generative’ through a pastoral ministry marked by concern and care, patience and maternal courage.” His words echoed the increasingly pressing call that has come from Catholics around the world through the synods on the family, the Amazon, and the ongoing Synod on Synodality, asking church leadership to open up greater spaces and roles of responsibility for women in the church of the 21st century.
“The church needs Mary in order to recover her own feminine face” which means making “space for women and [being] ‘generative’ through a pastoral ministry marked by concern and care, patience and maternal courage.”
In his homily, Pope Francis emphasized the role women play in a world that is suffering from violence and, as he often says, a “third world war” that is being waged “piecemeal.”
“The world, too, needs to look to mothers and to women in order to find peace, to emerge from the spiral of violence and hatred, and once more see things with genuinely human eyes and hearts,” he said.
He continued, “Every society needs to accept the gift that is woman, every woman: to respect, defend and esteem women, in the knowledge that whosoever harms a single woman profanes God, who was ‘born of a woman.’”
His defense of women comes at a time in Italy when violence against women has been increasing, and several brutal femicides have sparked outrage across the nation. The pope also closely follows situations of war, in which women have suffered: more than 6,500 women have already been killed as a result of the Israeli bombardment in Gaza, while others were killed or suffered violence in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, and in the wars being waged in Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, and other places.
“Our times, bereft of peace, need a Mother who can reunite the human family. Let us look to Mary, in order to become artisans of unity,” the pope said. He added, “For she unites them and consoles them; she listens to their troubles and she dries their tears. Let us entrust this coming year to the Mother of God.”
"Let us entrust this coming year to the Mother of God.”
Speaking to tens of thousands of pilgrims at the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square at midday, including many participants in a march for peace organized by the Sant’Egidio lay community, Pope Francis again urged believers to turn to Mary in this new year and ask her to intercede for peace in the world.
He told them: “let us look to Mary and, with a grateful heart, let us also think of and look at mothers, to learn that love that is cultivated above all in silence, that knows how to make room for the other, respecting their dignity, leaving the freedom to express themselves, rejecting every form of possession, oppression and violence. There is a great need for this today.”
He recalled that his message for this year’s World Day of Peace, which is celebrated Jan. 1, reminds us that “freedom and peaceful coexistence are threatened whenever human beings yield to the temptation to selfishness, self-interest, the desire for profit and the thirst for power.” Love, on the other hand, Francis said, “consists of respect and kindness: in this way, it breaks down barriers and helps us to live fraternal relationships, to build up more just and humane, more peaceful societies.”
The pope urged believers, “Let us pray to Mary, mother of God and our mother, that in the new year we may grow in this meek, silent and discreet love that generates life, and open paths of peace and reconciliation in the world.”
He also called on those in St. Peter’s Square and worldwide to pray for peace in countries suffering from war, and especially “the martyred Ukraine, Palestine and Israel.” He also asked them to pray for the bishops and priests in Nicaragua “who have been deprived of their liberty in recent days.” He expressed his closeness to them, and to the entire church and people of Nicaragua, and appealed “for a dialogue that can overcome the problems.”
He concluded by wishing everyone Happy New Year and asked them not to forget to pray for him.
Update 01/02/2024 7:56 p.m.: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story stated that the pope had recently recovered from pneumonia; it was bronchitis. The story has been updated to reflect this.
