Pope Francis joins Cubans celebrating Our Lady of Charity
(Vatican Radio) On the Feast day of Our Lady of Charity of Cobre Pope Francis has sent a message of participation and encouragement to all Cubans who love her and entrust their prayers to “her immaculate heart.”
In a letter addressed to the Metropolitan Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, Dionisio Guillermo Garcia Ibanez who is also the President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Cuba, the Pope recalled with joy that a replica of Our Lady of Charity of Cobre has recently been placed in the Vatican Gardens. He described her presence as a reminder of the love and the vitality of the pilgrim Church in the Caribbean.
The Pope said that each time he reads the passages in the Sacred Scriptures that speak of Our Lady three things in particular jump to his attention: that fact that she immediately rejoices when the Archangel Gabriel tells her that the Lord is with her; the fact that she does not hesitate, but sets out to help her elderly cousin Elizabeth who was about to give birth; and the fact that she is perseverant in her trust in God.
And Pope Francis invited all Cubans to imitate her in her humbleness and in her trust in the Lord. They too – he said – must rejoice in authentic love and actions of charity; they too must set out with courage and trust in the Lord; they too must persevere in doing good to others and in putting God at the center of their lives, never surrendering before adversity and tirelessly helping those who are oppressed by suffering and problems.
The Pope concluded his message entrusting the pastors, the religious communities and the faithful of Cuba to the maternal hands of Our Lady of Charity of Cobre so that they may continue in their commitment to evangelize and to create a society that is based on love.