Praying for peace, pope encourages people to look to Mary with hope

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) -- Mary's "yes" to God, to life and to love continues "in the martyrs of our time, in witnesses of faith and justice, of gentleness and peace," Pope Leo XIV said as he celebrated Mass on the feast of Mary's Assumption into heaven.

In the small parish Church of St. Thomas of Villanova on the main square of Castel Gandolfo, the pope celebrated the Mass Aug. 15 before going to the doorway of the nearby papal summer villa to lead the recitation of the Angelus prayer.

The Mass and prayer took place hours before U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin were scheduled to meet in Alaska to talk about steps toward ending Russia's war on Ukraine.

During the Mass, one of the prayers of the faithful was: "For peacemakers, that guided by God's plan to unite all humanity in one family and inspired to promote the true progress of peoples, they would serve the common good with love."

After reciting the Angelus, Pope Leo told an estimated 2,500 people in the square, "Today we want to entrust to the intercession of the Virgin Mary, assumed into heaven, our prayer for peace. She, as a mother, suffers for the evils that afflict her children, especially the little ones and the weak."

Often, he said, "we feel powerless in the face of the spread of violence across the world -- a violence increasingly deaf and indifferent to any impulse of humanity. And yet, we must not stop hoping. God is greater than the sin of human beings."

"We must not resign ourselves to the dominance of the logic of conflict and weapons," the pope said. "Through Mary, we believe that the Lord continues to come to the aid of his children, remembering his mercy. Only in his mercy can we find the path to peace."

The Gospel reading at the morning Mass included Mary's "Magnificat," which proclaimed the great things God had done for her and her certainty that God already had fulfilled his promise to rescue the poor and oppressed.

Still today Mary's canticle "strengthens the hope of the humble, the hungry, the faithful servants of God," the pope said. "These are the men and women of the Beatitudes who, even in tribulation, already see the invisible: the mighty cast down from their thrones, the rich sent away empty, the promises of God fulfilled."

The kingdom belongs to God, the pope said, but like Mary, saying "yes" to God's love "can change everything."

"On the cross, Jesus freely uttered that 'yes' which would strip death of its power -- the death that still spreads wherever our hands crucify and our hearts remain imprisoned by fear and mistrust," the pope said. "On the cross, trust prevailed; so did love, which sees what is yet to come; and forgiveness triumphed."

In a world that often seems resigned to evil, selfishness and "contempt for the poor and lowly," he said, the church "lives in her fragile members, and she is renewed by their Magnificat."

"Even in our own day, the poor and persecuted Christian communities, the witnesses of tenderness and forgiveness in places of conflict, and the peacemakers and bridge-builders in a broken world, are the joy of the church," Pope Leo said. "Many of them are women."

The pope ended his homily praying that all Catholics would look to their example and learn to sing with Mary, "He who is mighty has done great things for me."

"Let us not be afraid to choose life! It may seem risky and imprudent. Many voices whisper: 'Why bother? Let it go. Think of your own interests,'" he said. "These are voices of death."

"But we are disciples of Christ. It is his love that drives us -- soul and body -- in our time. As individuals and as the church, we no longer live for ourselves. This -- and only this -- spreads life and lets life prevail."