Pope Francis pays tribute to Blessed Paul VI’s devotion to Mary
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis paid tribute on Thursday to Blessed Pope Paul the 6th and his great love for the Mother of God, saying he always turned to Mary at crucial and difficult moments for the Church and humanity. The Pope’s words came during a message which was read on his behalf by the Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin at a public meeting of the Pontifical Academies whose theme was “Mary, Icon of God’s infinite beauty. During the meeting Cardinal Parolin awarded a prize in the name of the Pope to the Italian Mariological Association for its long-standing publication of the Theotokos Review.
Quoting from his encyclical Evangelii gaudium, the Pope reminded his audience that he has entrusted the way of the Church to the maternal and caring intercession of Mary and that there is a Marian style in the evangelizing activity of the church. This, he went on, is because every time we look at Mary we return to believe in the revolutionary strength of tenderness and affection. In her, we see the humility and the tenderness that are not virtues of the weak but of the strong and who don’t need to mistreat others in order to feel self-important.