Pope: Church needs to promote greater study, understanding of Mary

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic Church needs the theological study and model of Mary, Pope Leo XIV said, calling for a great promotion of Mariology in parishes, religious life and educational centers.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, "never ceases to open doors, build bridges, break down walls and help humanity to live in peace and in the harmony of diversity," he said Sept. 6 during an audience with some 600 scholars attending a conference on Mariology.

The Pontifical International Marian Academy organized the 26th International Mariological Marian Congress in Rome Sept. 3-6, discussing the theme, "Jubilee and Synodality: A Church with a Marian Face and Practice." Participants included Orthodox, Protestant and Muslim scholars.

In his address, Pope Leo underlined the pontifical academy's importance as being "a forum for thought, spirituality and dialogue, tasked with coordinating the studies and scholars of Mariology, in the service of a genuine and fruitful" Marian piety.

"The Virgin Mary, mother of the church, teaches us to be the holy people of God," he said.

"Mary is always ready to respond by first listening to the Word," he said. 

He highlighted St. Augustine's warning against praying to Mary to hear what one wants by quoting the saint: "All consult you about what they want, but they do not always hear the answer they want. Your most faithful servant is the one who does not seek to hear from you what he wants, but rather to want what he hears from you."

Mary is a "synodal" woman, he said, because she is "fully and maternally engaged in the action of the Holy Spirit, who summons those who previously believed they had reasons to remain divided due to mutual distrust and even enmity as brothers and sisters."

"A church with a Marian heart always better preserves and understands the hierarchy of truths of faith, integrating mind and heart, body and soul, universal and local, person and community, humanity and cosmos," Pope Leo said.

"It is a church that does not shy away from asking herself, others and God uncomfortable questions -- 'How shall this be?' -- and to walk the demanding paths of faith and love," he said. 

"A Marian piety and practice oriented toward the service of hope and consolation frees us from fatalism, superficiality and fundamentalism; it takes all human realities seriously, starting with the least and the discarded; it contributes to giving voice and dignity to those who are sacrificed on the altars of ancient and new idols," he said. 

"Since the vocation of the mother of the Lord is understood as the vocation of the church," he said, "Marian theology has the task of cultivating in all the people of God, first of all, a willingness to 'start afresh' with God, his Word and the needs of our neighbor, with humility and courage."

"It must also cultivate the desire to walk toward the unity that flows from the Trinity, in order to bear witness to the world, to the beauty of faith, the fruitfulness of love and the prophecy of hope that does not disappoint," he added.

"Contemplating the mystery of God and history of Mary's inner gaze protects us from the distortions of propaganda, ideology and unhealthy information, which can never speak a disarmed and disarming word, and opens us to divine gratuitousness, which alone makes it possible for people, populations and cultures to walk together in peace," the pope said.

"This is why the church needs Mariology," he said. "It should be considered and promoted in academic centers, shrines and parish communities, associations and movements, institutes of consecrated life, as well as in places where contemporary cultures are forged, valuing the limitless inspiration offered by art, music and literature."