Holy Father Pope Francis while addressing the faithful gathered at Casa Santa Marta for the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church conveyed that the Church is feminine and she is a mother. The feast is being celebrated this year for the first time, after the publication in March of the decree Ecclesia Mater (“Mother Church”) by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. His Holiness Pope Francis himself decided the feast should be celebrated Monday immediately following Pentecost, in order “to encourage the growth of the maternal sense of the Church in the pastors, religious and faithful, as well as a growth of genuine Marian piety.”
As reported by Vatican news, Holy Father Pope Francis remarked that “The Church is feminine, because it is “church” and “bride” both grammatically feminine: it is feminine. And she is a mother; she gives life. Bride and Mother. And the Fathers of the Church go further and say that even your soul is the bride of Christ and mother.” Further, His Holiness added, “And it is with this attitude that comes from Mary, who is Mother of the Church, with this attitude we can understand this feminine dimension of the Church, which, when it is not there, the Church loses its identity and becomes a charitable organization or a football team, or whatever, but not the Church.”
His Holiness Pope Francis concluded his homily by emphasizing that “A Church that is a mother goes along the path of tenderness. It knows the language of such wisdom of caresses, of silence, of the gaze that knows compassion, that knows silent. It is, too, a soul, a person who lives out this way of being a member of the Church, knowing that he or she is like a mother and must go along the same path: a person who is gentle, tender, smiling, full of love.”
