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Blessed Virgin Mary

Today, February 11: We Celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

Feb 11, 2024

On Feb. 11, the Catholic Church celebrates the liturgical memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, recalling a series of 18 appearances that the Blessed Virgin Mary made to a 14-year-old French peasant girl, Saint Bernadette Soubirous.

Pope Francis smiles at pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square on Jan. 1, 2023, for his first Angelus of the new year. | Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis Reflects on Mary’s Motherhood, Prays for Nicaragua During New Year’s Angelus

Jan 1, 2024

Just days after Christmas, Nicaragua’s Sandinista regime abducted four priests, whose whereabouts are still unknown.

Pope Francis' Angelus message on Jan. 1, 2023, marked the solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. An estimated 40,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square for the event. The feast day coincides with the World Day of Peace. | Credit: Vatican Media

Why are the Solemnity of Mary and the World Day of Peace Celebrated on the Same Day?

Jan 1, 2024

Jan. 1 marks more than the start of a new year — it is also the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and the World Day of Peace.

Pope Francis invoke the Virgin Mary as the Queen of Peace and Mother of Mercy at a prayer vigil for peace in St. Peter's Basilica, Friday, Oct. 27. | Credit: Courtney Mares

Pope Francis Asks Mary’s Intercession in World Day of Peace Video

Jan 1, 2024

Pope Francis implores the Blessed Virgin Mary to intercede for an end to human conflicts in a new video released on Jan. 1 for the World Day of Peace.

Today, Sunday, January 1, We Celebrate Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

Jan 1, 2024

The title “Mother of God” goes back to the third or fourth century, but the Greek term Theotokos (“The God-bearer”) was officially consecrated as Catholic doctrine at the Council of Ephesus in 431, thus becoming the first Marian dogma. At the end of the Council of Ephesus, crowds of people marched through the streets shouting: “Praised be the Theotokos!”

Today, December 12, We Celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe

Dec 12, 2023

In 1531 a "Lady from Heaven" appeared to Saint Juan Diego, a poor Indian from Tepeyac, a hill northwest of Mexico City. She identified herself as the Mother of the True God and instructed him to have the bishop build a church on the site. As a sign for the bishop, she left an image of herself imprinted miraculously on his tilma, a poor quality cactus-cloth. The tilma should have deteriorated within 20 years but shows no sign of decay after over 470 years. To this day it defies all scientific explanations of its origin.

The House of Mary community poses for a photo on Dec. 8, 1994, in St. Peter's Square, the first time they brought their blue banner with the words "The Immaculate Conception will Triumph" to the Angelus with Pope John Paul II. The group has continued to bring the banner to every Sunday Angelus for 29 years. | Credit: Comunita Casa di Maria

The Story Behind the Immaculate Conception Banner at Every Vatican Angelus

Dec 8, 2023

The banner’s declaration recalls the Marian spirituality of St. Maximilian Kolbe, who had a special devotion to the Immaculate Conception.

A firefighter scales a long ladder to the top of a nearly 40-foot-high column to pay tribute at dawn to the Blessed Virgin with a wreath of flowers on Dec. 8, 2023. | Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

PHOTOS: Pope Francis Honors Virgin Mary on Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

Dec 8, 2023

Pope Francis prayed in front of a statue of the Immaculate Conception near Rome’s Spanish Steps, which sits atop a nearly 40-foot-high column.

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Dec 8, 2023

"The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin."

Today, November 21, We Celebrate Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Nov 21, 2023

The Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrated annually on November 21st, commemorates the presentation of the Blessed Virgin as a child by her parents in the Temple in Jerusalem.

Today, October 7, We Celebrate Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

Oct 7, 2023

On October 7, the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the yearly feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Known for several centuries by the alternate title of “Our Lady of Victory,” the feast day takes place in honor of a 16th century naval victory which secured Europe against Turkish invasion. 

Pope Francis offers Mass on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Peter's Basilica on Dec. 12, 2020. | Vatican Media

Pope Francis: Like Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mothers Can Be Great Evangelizers Today

Aug 23, 2023

Our Lady of Guadalupe proclaimed the Gospel in “mother tongue,” Pope Francis said Wednesday in a message that highlighted the important role mothers play in passing on the faith to the next generation.

Mary. Artist Giovanni Battista Gaulli, Museu da Casa Brasileira. | Wikimedia Commons.

Why the Queenship of Mary matters

Aug 22, 2023

The Catholic Church annually celebrates the feast of the Queenship of Mary on Aug. 22. I would imagine that most people, upon hearing of this celebration, would think of it as something rather sweet and sentimental, a quaint devotion for grandmothers with a taste for saccharine spirituality.

Pope Francis smiles at pilgrims during his Wednesday general audience in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall on Aug. 9, 2023. | Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Pope Francis: Mary "never keeps us waiting"

Aug 9, 2023

Pope Francis said Wednesday he likes to invoke the Virgin Mary under the title of “Our Lady ‘in haste’” because she is always ready to swiftly intercede for her children’s requests.

Today, May 31, We Celebrate the Feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary

May 31, 2023

Assuming that the Annunciation and the Incarnation took place around the time of the vernal equinox, Mary left Nazareth at the end of March and went over the mountains to Hebron, south of Jerusalem, to wait upon her cousin Elizabeth. 

Pope Francis celebrates Mass in Gyumri, Armenia, June 25, 2016. | L'Osservatore Romano/CNA

Pope Francis Entrusts All Mothers to Blessed Virgin Mary on Mother’s Day

May 14, 2023

On Mother’s Day, Pope Francis entrusted all mothers, including those in heaven, to the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus.

"God protected me and the Virgin Mary did not leave me": Survivor of Turkey Earthquake

Mar 1, 2023

Only a few hours after Bassel Habkouk, a young Lebanese Catholic and father of two, arrived for a visit in Turkey on Feb. 6, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the country and nearby Syria.

Women from All over the World Pray the Rosary on Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

Dec 9, 2022

On Dec. 8, the day the Church celebrates the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, thousands of women in different countries around the world gathered to pray the holy rosary for peace and for the defense of life.

Pope Francis met participants in the Syro-Malabar Youth Leaders Conference on 18 June 2022. Credit: Vatican Media

The Virgin Mary Teaches Us "to live eucharistically": Pope Francis

Jun 18, 2022

The Blessed Virgin Mary never allowed herself to be “paralyzed by pride or fear,” but she arose and went with haste to humbly offer a helping hand, the pope told young Catholics on Saturday.

Red Confidential/Shutterstock.

Catholic Bishop in Nigeria Directs “a more vigorous May devotion” to Mary for Peace

May 1, 2022

Bishop Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo of Nigeria’s Oyo Diocese has directed the people of God under his pastoral care to “a more vigorous May devotion to the mother of Jesus” for an end to violent conflicts globally and in the West African nation.