Sacred Heart of Jesus

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As the early morning sun crept up over the horizon, a warm rosy glow washed over the facade of St. Peter's Basilica -- the destination for thousands of pilgrims one chilly January morning.

More than 10,000 people from 138 countries had signed up to take part in the Jan. 24-26 Jubilee of the World of Communications, which included a meeting and Mass with Pope Francis, conferences and breakout sessions with others working in media, and a half-mile pilgrimage of prayer along the large boulevard to St. Peter's Square. 

Smaller, more manageable groups were created by dividing them according to language with staggered start times. Each group had someone volunteer to carry the wooden Jubilee crucifix and lead the prayers.

Groups that headed out at daybreak Jan. 25 enjoyed a tourist-free city, populated only by a few joggers, diesel fume-belching street cleaning vehicles and a flurry of gulls swooping over bubbling fountains. 

Pilgrims from different countries in one English-speaking group showed excitement mixed with joy and reverence as they got closer to the basilica and the Holy Door. Even an unexpected detour to scan bags and go through metal detectors did not ruin the mood as they quickly regrouped, resumed the prayers or tapped "record" on cellphones to keep capturing the special moment.

Many of the faithful touched the bronze cross embedded in the door jamb as they crossed the threshold, which represents leaving behind sin and moving toward grace and spiritual renewal.

Going through the Holy Door was "something very special. I think I cried for 10 minutes afterward," Mara Bandeniece told Catholic News Service.

"Also seeing the inside of the basilica, (I was) very, very touched by the art and just in awe. It was very, actually, overwhelming, but I think I will remember it for a long time," she said in the Paul VI Audience Hall after the pilgrimage Jan. 25. 

Bandeniece, who uses creative projects to evangelize young people, and Marija Mezote, a young Catholic film director, were both invited from Latvia to attend a special meeting for young communicators during the Jubilee.

"I got inspired again to be with so many young, creative young people who aren't scared to share their creative sides as their vocation. Sometimes we're maybe scared to be very, very creative and bold, but it's so nice to see other young people doing the same," Bandeniece said.

Mezote said the Jubilee has been an important personal journey of faith, and, equally powerful, has been meeting other young communicators to "talk about the challenges and the meaning and the value of Catholic and Christian communication in general in the world."

Daniella Zsupan-Jerome, assistant professor of pastoral theology at Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, told CNS she is teaching a course this semester on pastoral communications, and she will be taking everything she learned during the week back to her students. 

The late Cardinal Avery Dulles once said, "The church is communications," so the Catholic Church must "be present in the world of communications and really claim its place," she said.

"We can't not be a part of our broader media culture, our digital culture," she said. But what does have to be asked and decided is "what is the opportunity there for witness, for faith" and for presenting a "kind of communication that builds hope?"

"How do we prophetically resist the challenges when it comes to lack of truthfulness … ugly conversations" and polarization, Zsupan-Jerome said.

"To step away from it and say this is all too depraved is a mistake. I think rather to continue to persist with it as people of faith is essential because it's part of who we are as church. It's our mission, it's our identity," she said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Communication is something divine with the power "to build -- build communities, build up the church," Pope Francis told thousands of journalists and people working in media and communication.

"To know how to communicate displays great wisdom," he said in brief remarks during an audience in the Paul VI Audience Hall Jan. 25.

He encouraged participants in the Jan. 24-26 Jubilee of the World of Communications to remember that it is not enough to communicate the truth, they also must be true and authentic people in their hearts and in the way they live their lives. 

The midday encounter came after thousands of the pilgrims walked through the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica and made the profession of faith at the tomb of St. Peter, and after the pope had had a full morning of meetings.

The pope held up his written speech and said, "I have in my hands a nine-page speech" and "at this time of day when the stomach starts rumbling, to read nine pages would be torture."

He gave the prepared text to Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, to be distributed and published.

In his text, the pope made an urgent appeal for the release of unjustly imprisoned journalists, which, according to Reporters without Borders in 2024, numbered more than 500 people.

"The freedom of journalists increases the freedom of us all," he wrote, asking those with the power to do so to release during the Jubilee Year those who were detained merely "for wanting to see with their own eyes and for trying to report what they have seen."

Freedom of the press and freedom of thought must be "defended and safeguarded along with the fundamental right to be informed," the pope wrote.

Without "free, responsible and correct information," he wrote, "we risk no longer distinguishing truth from lies; without this, we expose ourselves to growing prejudices and polarizations that destroy the bonds of civil coexistence and prevent fraternity from being rebuilt."

"We need media literacy," his text said, "to educate ourselves and to educate others in critical thought, the patience of discernment necessary for knowledge, and to promote the personal growth and active participation of every one of us in the future of our own communities." 

"We need courageous entrepreneurs, courageous information engineers, so that the beauty of communication is not corrupted," he wrote. "Great change cannot be the result of a multitude of sleeping minds but rather begins with the communion of enlightened hearts."

"Not all stories are good, and yet these too must be told," he wrote. "Evil must be seen in order to be redeemed, but it is necessary to be told well so as not to wear out the fragile threads of cohabitation."

The pope's text also reflected on the talks given before his arrival by Maria Ressa, a Filipino-American journalist who was awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with a Russian journalist for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, and Colum McCann, an Irish writer and co-founder and president of Narrative 4, an international educational NGO. The two speakers had both been given loud, long applause and a standing ovation for their talks. 

"This Jubilee comes at a time when the world is upside down: when what's right is wrong; and what's wrong is right," Ressa said in her speech.

An MIT study showed in 2018 that "lies spread six times faster on social media," and if a lie is told enough times, "it becomes a fact. If you make people believe lies are facts, then you can control them," she said.

"Without facts, you can’t have truth. Without truth, you can’t have trust. Without these three, we don’t have a shared reality" and "we can’t have journalism; we can’t have democracy," much less "solve existential problems like climate change," she added.

"Information warfare," Ressa said, is a "geopolitical power play (that) is exploiting these platforms' design. Remember, the goal is not to make you believe one thing; it’s to make you doubt everything, so you're paralyzed."

Religion and faith are more important than ever for fighting back because of what they hold in common with the golden rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," she said.

There are four things people in the world of media and communication can do, she said: collaborate; speak truth with moral clarity; protect the most vulnerable and prevent the normalization of hate; and "recognize your power" driven by love.

"Hope is not passive; it's active, relentless and strategic. Our faith traditions carry centuries of resilience; we need to share those stories of transformation," she said. 

McCann said in his speech that "stories matter. They can change the course of history. They can rescue us. Stories are the glue that hold us together: we are nothing if we can't communicate."

When people share who they are and then listen generously in turn, it reminds every one of their shared humanity, he said.

"The crux of our contemporary dilemma is not so much silence, as it is the act of silencing," which happens "when we refuse to listen to the stories of others, or more poignantly, when we refuse to let others tell their stories at all" or "annihilate" their stories, he said.

A refusal to hear the stories of "those who don’t look like us, or sound like us, or vote like us, is at the core of our possible doom," he said.

McCann encouraged teachers and journalists to use storytelling, "not something designed to win an argument, but something that stirs the soul," as a path to repair what is broken in the world.

"Young people soon realize -- through personal story-telling -- that we are so much more alike than we are different" and "we recognize one another’s common humanity."  

Just being interested in one another is a triumph, he said. "Imagine how many triumphs come about when we learn to understand, or even like, or maybe even love, one another."

Storytelling and story listening may or may not save the world, he said, but it will let in "a ray of light and understanding" to pierce the darkness.
 

A Jubilee for Catholic communicators

The Jubilee for the World of Communications brought together thousands of Catholic journalists and church communicators, both professional and amateur, from across the globe.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis urged communicators to use their platforms to inspire hope by avoiding aggressive language and rejecting rhetoric that dehumanizes others.

"I dream of a communication capable of making us fellow travelers, walking alongside our brothers and sisters and encouraging them to hope in these troubled times," the pope wrote in his message for the World Day of Communications.

The pope's message was released Jan. 24, the feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron saint of journalists, and the start of the Vatican celebration of the Jubilee of the World of Communications.

The Vatican and most dioceses will celebrate the World Day of Communications June 1, the Sunday before Pentecost. 

Describing his dream particularly for Catholic communicators, Pope Francis said theirs should be "a communication capable of speaking to the heart, arousing not passionate reactions of defensiveness and anger, but attitudes of openness and friendship."

And with the Holy Year 2025 being focused on hope, the pope said communications should be "capable of focusing on beauty and hope even in the midst of apparently desperate situations, and generating commitment, empathy and concern for others."

A Christian form of communication, he said, "does not peddle illusions or fears, but is able to give reasons for hope."

The theme for the church's 59th celebration of World Day of Communications is "Share with gentleness the hope that is in your hearts," taken from the First Letter of St. Peter.

Pope Francis wrote that he chose the theme because modern communication is increasingly "characterized by disinformation and polarization, as a few centers of power control an unprecedented mass of data and information." 

"Too often today communication generates not hope, but fear and despair, prejudice and resentment, fanaticism and even hatred," he wrote in the message. "All too often it simplifies reality in order to provoke instinctive reactions; it uses words like a razor; it even uses false or artfully distorted information to send messages designed to agitate, provoke or hurt." 

In his letter, the apostle Peter tells Christians that they have an obligation to give others an account of their hope, something which the pope said is accomplished best when Christians allow "the beauty of love" to shine through their words and actions.

Pope Francis asked Catholic communicators "to discover and make known the many stories of goodness hidden in the folds of the news, imitating those gold prospectors who tirelessly sift the sand in search of a tiny nugget."

Seeking out those "seeds of hope" and sharing them, he said, "helps our world to be a little less deaf to the cry of the poor, a little less indifferent, a little less closed in on itself."

"Be witnesses and promoters of a nonaggressive communication; help to spread a culture of care, build bridges and break down the visible and invisible barriers of the present time," the pope asked Catholic media professionals.

"May you always find those glimmers of goodness that inspire us to hope," he told them. "This kind of communication can help to build communion, to make us feel less alone, to rediscover the importance of walking together."
 

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (H.R.21), while the Senate failed to overcome the 60-vote procedural threshold for its version (S.6). “The House of Representatives took decisive action to protect innocent babies from infanticide,” said Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Pro-Life Activities. “Babies are being left to die after failed abortions – denied care and basic human compassion. It is a stunning failure of the Senate to reject this necessary, common-sense legislation – which, in reality, does not even limit abortion but protects infants who are born alive,” he added.

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would require health care providers to give children born alive after an attempted abortion the same medical care that they would for any child born at that same gestational age and to transport them to a hospital. Currently, denying these infants care and leaving them alone to die – unlike a direct action of killing – is often not adequately covered by state laws, leaving a critical gap in needed protection. On Tuesday, Bishop Thomas sent a letter to Congress, urging members to vote for the bill. His letter may be read here.

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WASHINGTON – The following statement was issued in response to action taken by the Trump Administration rescinding guidance related to "protected areas" in immigration enforcement. 

“Catholic health care, Catholic Charities agencies, and the Church’s other social service ministries work daily to feed, house, heal, educate, and meet people’s needs in communities across our nation. Through these ministries—together with the Church’s responsibility to proclaim the Gospel and celebrate the sacraments—we uphold the belief that all people are conceived with inherent dignity, reflecting the image of God. Through our parishes, shelters, hospitals, schools, and other Church institutions, we recognize that this dignity is not dependent on a person's citizenship or immigration status. Moreover, the charitable services we provide are fundamental to who we are as Christians. ‘For the Church, charity is not a kind of welfare activity which could equally well be left to others, but is a part of her nature, an indispensable expression of her very being’ (Deus caritas est, no. 25).

“We recognize the need for just immigration enforcement and affirm the government’s obligation to carry it out in a targeted, proportional, and humane way. However, non-emergency immigration enforcement in schools, places of worship, social service agencies, healthcare facilities, or other sensitive settings where people receive essential services would be contrary to the common good. With the mere rescission of the protected areas guidance, we are already witnessing reticence among immigrants to engage in daily life, including sending children to school and attending religious services. All people have a right to fulfill their duty to God without fear. Turning places of care, healing, and solace into places of fear and uncertainty for those in need, while endangering the trust between pastors, providers, educators and the people they serve, will not make our communities safer. 

“Our organizations stand ready to work on a better path forward that protects the dignity of all those we serve, upholds the sacred duty of our providers, and ensures our borders and immigration system are governed with mercy and justice.”

This statement was offered by Bishop Mark J. Seitz, chairman, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, Sr. Mary Haddad, RSM, president and CEO, Catholic Health Association of the United States, and Kerry Alys Robinson, president and CEO, Catholic Charities USA.

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ROME (CNS) -- Before the millions of pilgrims expected to come to Rome during the Holy Year 2025 cross through the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica, they will be met by smiling faces and lime green jackets.

Jubilee volunteers of all ages and nationalities have become a mainstay along the boulevard leading up to St. Peter's Square since the start of the Holy Year.

Wearing uniforms emblazoned with "volontario" across their backs and the Jubilee and Vatican logos on their chests, the volunteers line the pilgrims' path, offering guidance and companionship on their spiritual journey.

They escort pilgrims along the final leg of their pilgrimage to the Holy Door, checking passes, providing directions and accompanying groups in prayer.

For Craig and Laura Schlattmann -- a married couple of Jubilee volunteers from Tacoma, Washington -- participating in the current Holy Year has been 25 years in the making.

Craig was stationed in Italy for military service, and the couple lived in Rome during the Holy Year 2000. Back then they "vowed, God willing, to come back for the next ordinary Jubilee year in 2025," Laura told Catholic News Service.

After Craig's recent retirement, the couple decided to fulfill that promise. "We returned not just for ourselves and our own experience but also to help our family, friends and everyone who comes to Rome to experience this special year," Craig said Jan. 23. "It's been a real blessing."

Though volunteer positions are open to all Catholics over 18 who can volunteer at least one week of their time at the Vatican, the Schlattmanns committed to moving to Rome for the duration of the Jubilee Year to host friends and family making pilgrimages to the Eternal City and assist other pilgrims.

Volunteers arrange their own travel to Rome, but once they arrive, the Dicastery for Evangelization provides meals and accommodations at the "Domus Spei," a former convent in central Rome equipped with dozens of rooms and 100 beds. Applicants must submit a letter of introduction from their parish priest or another representative of a church organization.

The dicastery said it had received more than 7,000 volunteer applications before the start of the Jubilee.

In their day-to-day activities, the volunteers "are here to smooth the pilgrim's path so that they can focus on their spiritual journey along the pilgrim way," Laura told CNS.

Accompanying pilgrim groups is "a truly holy experience," she said, particularly when guiding them toward the altar over St. Peter's tomb.

"You can feel their love, you can feel their faith, and to realized that I am blessed enough to accompany them, it's just amazing," she said.

While participating as a pilgrim is powerful, Craig emphasized that volunteering offers a unique perspective. "To be a volunteer is to serve, and we're serving our brothers and sisters in Christ, many of whom have come many, many miles at great expense to have a special, probably a once in a lifetime, experience."

Although volunteers often accompany large groups of pilgrims through the Holy Door, the Schlattmanns said even smaller encounters with pilgrims leave a lasting impression.

Craig recalled witnessing a young priest and a layperson assist an elderly person to walk across the threshold of the Holy Door. "You could see their reverence and the excitement that they had," he said, expressing gratitude for the blessing that is helping others reach the culmination of their long pilgrimage.

And obtaining that blessing beats out any other trip one could plan for 2025, Laura said.

"Put the ski vacation on hold for a year, put the cruise on hold for a year," she said. "Come to Rome, do it for you, do it for your children, do it for your grandchildren, do it for your soul."

Vocation, not vacation: Volunteers "vector" visitors at the Vatican

CNS spoke with volunteers assisting with the Holy Year 2025.

WASHINGTON – Following an earlier statement by Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Migration, issued the following statement:

“The Catholic Church is committed to defending the sanctity of every human life and the God-given dignity of each person, regardless of nationality or immigration status. Church teaching recognizes a country’s right and responsibility to promote public order, safety, and security through well-regulated borders and just limits on immigration. However, as shepherds, we cannot abide injustice, and we stress that national self-interest does not justify policies with consequences that are contrary to the moral law. The use of sweeping generalizations to denigrate any group, such as describing all undocumented immigrants as ‘criminals' or ‘invaders,’ to deprive them of protection under the law, is an affront to God, who has created each of us in his own image. Pope Francis has stated, ‘No one will ever openly deny that [migrants] are human beings, yet in practice, by our decisions and the way we treat them, we can show that we consider them less worthy, less important, less human. For Christians, this way of thinking and acting is unacceptable.’ 

“While an emphasis on anti-trafficking is welcomed, several of the executive orders signed by President Trump this week are specifically intended to eviscerate humanitarian protections enshrined in federal law and undermine due process, subjecting vulnerable families and children to grave danger. The open-ended deployment of military assets to support civil immigration enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border is especially concerning. Meanwhile, policies barring the consideration of any humanitarian claims—including those of unaccompanied children and trafficking victims—have repeatedly failed to reduce irregular migration in a legal, sustainable, and humane manner.

“Preventing any access to asylum and other protections will only endanger those who are most vulnerable and deserving of relief, while empowering gangs and other predators to exploit them. Likewise, indefinitely halting refugee resettlement is unmerited, as it is already proven to be one of the most secure legal pathways to the United States. Even non-humanitarian legal immigration and naturalized persons are targeted by these policies in support of a so-called ‘unified American identity.’ Finally, the proposed interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment to limit birthright citizenship sets a dangerous precedent, contradicting the Supreme Court’s longstanding interpretation. 

“We urge President Trump to pivot from these enforcement-only policies to just and merciful solutions, working in good faith with members of Congress to achieve meaningful, bipartisan immigration reform that furthers the common good with an effective, orderly immigration system. My brother bishops and I will support this in any way we can, while continuing to accompany our immigrant brothers and sisters in accordance with the Gospel of Life.”

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ROME (CNS) -- The Holy Doors of the basilicas of Rome, the beautiful churches, the countryside around Assisi, the gelato and the pasta and the daily Masses were just some of the pilgrimage highlights mentioned by Holy Year pilgrims from the Diocese of Cleveland.

"It's one thing to see photos online of the Sistine Chapel and another to stand in awe under it with other pilgrims," said Father Dan Schlegel, pastor of the diocese's St. Raphael Parish in Bay Village.

Bishop Edward C. Malesic of Cleveland and 90 pilgrims, including two priests and three permanent deacons, made their Holy Year pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi Jan. 13-23. Their last full day in Rome included Pope Francis' general audience and going through the Holy Door and celebrating Mass at the Basilica of St. Mary Major. 

Earlier in the trip, they had Mass with Bishop Malesic near the tomb of St. Peter at the Vatican and next to the tomb of St. Francis in Assisi.

Those Masses were "very special," said Jim Ruddock, a member of St. Noel Church in Willoughby Hills. "It's like getting to sit next to the field at a football game" rather than high up in the bleachers.

His wife, Maria Ruddock, said it was even more special "getting to celebrate Mass in these places with our own bishop." 

At Mass Jan. 22 under the Marian icon "Salus Populi Romani" ("health of the Roman people") in St. Mary Major, Bishop Malesic told the pilgrims, "Don't be shy" to return home and share their pilgrimage experience with their families, parishes and communities.

The bishop told Catholic News Service that while he has been to Rome many times, the trip gave him a chance to experience the holy sites through the eyes of many people who had never been to Italy before and to draw hope from the faith of "people who want to do a spiritual pilgrimage and to encounter Jesus."

"I experienced the best of the church with the joy at our meals, the intensity of our prayer at Mass, the awe when walking through the Holy Doors and the contrition of our hearts in the sacrament of reconciliation," he told the pilgrims in his homily at their final Mass.

Pope Francis opened the Holy Year 2025 on Christmas Eve with the theme, "Pilgrims of Hope."

Mary Lou Ozimek, assistant executive director of the diocese's Catholic Community Foundation, which organized the pilgrimage, said one sign of hope for her was seeing pilgrimage members keep prayer journals and bring to the altar each day their "intention books," which were filled with their prayer requests and those of their family and friends.

The 90 pilgrims came from each of the eight counties in the diocese, she said, and the prayer intentions represented the hopes and needs of the whole diocese. 

The pilgrims crossed the thresholds of the Holy Doors at the basilicas of St. Peter, St. Paul Outside the Walls and St. John Lateran before reaching St. Mary Major. But they also visited the Pontifical Sanctuary of the Holy Stairs, which tradition holds are the stairs Jesus ascended when Pontius Pilate brought him before the crowd and handed him over to be crucified.

Jodi Theis from St. Martin of Tours Parish in Valley City said the highlight of the pilgrimage was climbing the stairs on her knees, which was much more difficult than she had expected.

"I was immediately overcome with emotion," she said. "It was painful, but I'm so glad I did it. I was filled with joy at the top and overwhelmed by the love of Jesus, who suffered so much for us."
 

WASHINGTON - In response to this week’s Executive Orders signed by President Trump, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) offered the following statement:

“Many of the issues President Trump addresses in his recent Executive Orders, along with what may be issued in the coming days, are matters on which the Church has much to offer. Some provisions contained in the Executive Orders, such as those focused on the treatment of immigrants and refugees, foreign aid, expansion of the death penalty, and the environment, are deeply troubling and will have negative consequences, many of which will harm the most vulnerable among us. Other provisions in the Executive Orders can be seen in a more positive light, such as recognizing the truth about each human person as male or female. 

“I wish to reiterate that the Catholic Church is not aligned with any political party, and neither is the bishops’ conference. No matter who occupies the White House or holds the majority on Capitol Hill, the Church’s teachings remain unchanged. It is our hope that the leadership of our Country will reconsider those actions which disregard not only the human dignity of a few, but of us all. 

“Following the ancient tradition, Pope Francis has declared 2025 as a Jubilee Year of Hope. As Christians, our hope is always in Jesus Christ, who guides us through storm and calm weather. He is the source of all truth. Our prayer is one of hope that, as a Nation blessed with many gifts, our actions demonstrate a genuine care for our most vulnerable sisters and brothers, including the unborn, the poor, the elderly and infirm, and migrants and refugees. The just Judge expects nothing less.”

The USCCB will publish additional information pertaining to specific Executive Orders on usccb.org. 

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- God tells Christians not to be afraid because he is always close, accompanying the faithful throughout their lives and through all their challenges, Pope Francis said.

"God says 'Do not be afraid' to Abraham, Isaac" and many others in the Bible, but "he says it to us, too. 'Be not afraid,' keep going," because God "is your traveling companion," the pope said Jan. 22 during his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Audience Hall.

The pope also expressed his closeness to and prayers for the people of Los Angeles, where severe wildfires continue to burn. "I want you to know that my heart is with the people of Los Angeles," he said.

"May Our Lady of Guadalupe intercede for all residents so that they may be witnesses of hope through the strength of diversity and creativity for which they are known around the world," he said at the end of his general audience.

The pope also told those gathered in the audience hall that during his daily phone call with the Holy Family Parish in Gaza yesterday, the people living there were happy with the ceasefire.

"Inside, there are 600 people in the parish and the school. And they told me, 'Today, we ate lentils with chicken -- something we weren't used to in these times. Just some vegetables, a little something... They were happy," he said.

He again invited Catholics to pray for Gaza, "for peace there, and in so many parts of the world," and to "remember in your prayers the elderly in Ukraine, who are living through the tragedy of war." 

In his main address, the pope continued a series of talks on "Jesus Christ our hope," which is the theme for his weekly catechesis throughout the Jubilee Year, by looking at the effect of God's transforming power on a young Mary in Nazareth.

The angel Gabriel "brings a message of an entirely unheard-of form and content, so much so that Mary's heart is shaken, disturbed," the pope said.

Gabriel's greeting, "Hail!" is an invitation to rejoice, and "God calls Mary with a loving name unknown to biblical history, 'kecharitoméne,' which means 'filled with divine grace,'" he said.

Mary, full of grace, means that "God's love has already for some time inhabited, and continues to dwell, in Mary's heart … making her his masterpiece," he said.

God immediately reassures Mary to "be not afraid," he said, because "the Lord's presence gives this grace of not being afraid."

Mary learns of her mission to be "the mother of the long-awaited Davidic Messiah" whose name will be "'Jesus,' which means 'God saves,' reminding everyone forever that it is not man who saves, but only God," the pope said. 

"This absolutely unique motherhood shakes Mary to the core," he said, but she reflects and hears an invitation to trust completely in God.

"Illuminated with trust," he said, "Mary welcomes the Word in her own flesh and thus launches the greatest mission ever entrusted to a human creature," placing herself in service, collaborating with God's plan.

"Let us learn from Mary, mother of the Savior and our mother, to open our ears to the divine Word, to welcome it and cherish it, so that it may transform our hearts into tabernacles of his presence, into hospitable homes where hope grows," the pope said.

Greeting different language groups after his main catechesis, the pope welcomed representatives of other Christian communities who were in Rome for the week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which concludes Jan. 25.

"This unity is not the fruit of our own efforts, but a gift we must ask the Father for, so that the world may believe in his only son, Christ the savior," the pope told German-speaking visitors. 

Pope: God doesn't want us live in fear

A look at Pope Francis' general audience Jan. 22, 2025.