On the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima, May 13, Pope Leo XIV highlighted how the Blessed Virgin Mary is a model, member and mother of the ecclesial community and she teaches all the faithful to love and serve the Church.

“The mystery of the Church is also reflected in the Virgin Mary: in Her, the people of God find the representation of their origin, their model and their homeland,” he said in his catechesis during the Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter’s Square.

“In the Mother of the Lord, the Church contemplates her own mystery, not only because she finds in Her the model of virginal faith, maternal charity and the spousal covenant to which she is called, but also and above all because in Her she recognizes her own archetype, the ideal figure of what she is called to be.”

Pope Leo XIV continued his catechesis series on the Documents of the Second Vatican Council, reflecting again on the 1964 Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen gentium, whose last chapter focuses on the Virgin Mary.

In emphasizing how Our Lady can be a model for the Church, the Pope called the faithful to “ask Her to help us, through Her intercession, to respond to what is asked of us through Her example.”

In this regard he asked a series of questions to help us reflect:

“Do I live my participation of the Church with humble and active faith? Do I recognize in her the community of the covenant that God has given me to respond to His infinite love? Do I feel that I am a living part of the Church, in obedience to the pastors given by God? Do I look to Mary as a model, an outstanding member and Mother of the Church, and ask Her to help me be a faithful disciple of her Son?”

Citing Lumen gentium, the Pope pointed out how it invites us to recognize in Mary “the model and the pre-eminent member and mother of the entire ecclesial community.”

Shaped by God’s grace and by welcoming Jesus through her faith and “virginal love,” Mary is the “perfect model of what the Church is called to be: a creature of the Word of the Lord and mother of the children of God, begotten in docility to the action of the Holy Spirit,” the Pope explained.

He also emphasized how she is “an excellent member of the ecclesial community” as she is the “believer par excellence” and was unconditionally open to the divine mystery.

Then the Pope highlighted that she is “the mother of the whole Church” as she “ brings forth children” in Christ and all the faithful can “turn to her with filial confidence, in the certainty of being heard, protected and loved.”

The Pope then explained how these three characteristics can be summarized by defining the Virgin May as “a woman who is the icon of the Mystery.”  

He underlined how the word “woman highlights the historical reality of this young daughter of Israel,” to whom it was granted to become the mother of Jesus.

Then the word icon shows how “in Her, both God’s gratuitous election and Her free consent of faith in Him shine forth.”

“Mary is therefore the woman who is the icon of the Mystery, that is, of the divine plan of salvation, once hidden and now revealed in its fullness in Jesus Christ,” he said.

The Pope also noted that the “Council has left us clear teaching on the unique place reserved to the Virgin Mary in the work of Redemption.”

The “sole mediator of salvation is Jesus Christ” and his mother “fosters the immediate union of the faithful” with Him, Pope Leo explained, citing Lumen gentium.

Lastly the Pope invoked the Holy Spirit so that it may grant to all the grace to live fully in the Church.

“Having reflected deeply on the Constitution Lumen gentium, let us ask the Virgin to obtain this gift for us: that love for the Holy Mother Church may grow in all of us,” he concluded. 

Pope Leo XIV prays at the spot where St. John Paul II was shot

Before the beginning of the General Audience on May 13, as Pope Leo XIV passed through the crowds in the popemobile, he stopped and knelt at the spot where, exactly on this day in 1981, his predecessor St. John Paul II was the victim of an assassination attempt.

"Today we remember the memorial of Our Lady of Fatima. On this day, forty-five years ago, an attempt was made on Pope John Paul II’s life, and for these reasons, I dedicated my catechesis today to the Blessed Virgin Mary," the Pope said during his greetings to the English-speakers.

The spot is marked by a white marble plaque embedded with St. John Paul II's coat of arms, placed among the cobblestones. After the assassination attempt, St. John Paul II repeatedly expressed his conviction that his life had been preserved through the Virgin Mary’s intercession.

In this regard, in his greetings to the Portuguese pilgrims, Pope Leo called everyone to turn their gaze to the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, where she "entrusted a message of peace to the three shepherd children."

 "In that place, so dear to Christianity, numerous pilgrims from all five continents gather today: their presence is a sign of the need for consolation, unity, and hope among the people of our time. Let us entrust to the Immaculate Heart of Mary the cry for peace and harmony rising from every part of the world, especially from peoples afflicted by war. My blessing to all!"

Pope John Paul II was greeting the faithful before the weekly General Audience from an open white jeep when shots were fired at close range on May 13, 1981. The Pope was seriously wounded and immediately transported to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital.

A statement released by the Holy See Press Office later confirmed that the Pope had been struck in the abdomen and was undergoing surgery at the Gemelli Hospital. The communiqué added that, although his condition was serious, there were “founded hopes for recovery.”

Four days later, during the Regina Caeli message from the hospital, John Paul II addressed the faithful and spoke publicly of forgiveness for Mehmet Ali Ağca, the man responsible for the attack.

He assured his prayers for the attacker and entrusted himself once more to the Virgin Mary with the words: “Totus tuus ego sum” (“I am entirely yours”).