"I come to you in the joy of sharing with you the Gospel of hope and peace," the pope said in the message released by the Vatican on 10 May. Pope Francis was to embark on a two-day visit to Fatima 12-13 May to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Marian apparitions, which began 13 May, 1917, when three shepherd children reported seeing the Virgin Mary.
A woman is a person's natural mother if she carried him in her womb and if she gave him half of his genetic matter. Mary was the mother of Jesus in both of these senses; because she carried Jesus in her womb and supplied the genetic matter for his human body. If Mary is the mother of Jesus, and if Jesus is God, then Mary is the Mother of God.
Interreligious peace and harmony reigns in Indonesian village. A Marian shrine in Central Java, Indonesia, has become a beacon of interreligious peace and understanding for visiting groups of Muslims and Catholics. Dozens of non-Catholics have been coming to the shrine in Kerep village every day for their own version of contemplative prayer.
How do we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in this time of severe crisis which is expressed through the faces and different situations in so many places in the world?... From the anguished Heart of Mary, who saw and felt the pain of those who lived humiliated or had nothing to eat, came the "Magnificat" which, being born from a Heart full of God, is a song of hope.
On this, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, we pray for faith, real faith, not faith that demands proofs and is therefore a very weak faith, but faith that God is working His plans in and through us in mysterious ways.
Celebrations begin to mark the 950th anniversary of the founding of one of England’s greatest shrines devoted to the Blessed Virgin, which despite destruction during the Reformation has today re-emerged as one of the nation’s primary sites of pilgrimage.
Christian tradition has always emphasized that Jesus was born of a virgin. The Messiah could only come forth from a virgin's womb. The main reason for this emphasis of course is to highlight that Jesus did not have a human father and that his conception was from the Holy Spirit
