His Most Reverend Eminence the Cardinal

Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy

the presence of the mother of god in the evangelisation of all peoples

a meditation on the past and on future prospects

"My little children, I am in travail over you afresh, until I can see Christ’s image formed in you!" (Gal 4,19). The words of the Apostle of the people, which reflect the Church’s maternal dimension linked to her evangelising mission among all men, allow us to better understand the Marian dimension of each Christian’s missionary vocation.

Following the example of the Mother of the Son, the "eldest born among many brethren" (Rom 8,29), the Church becomes a mother when, accepting with faith the words of God, "she brings forth to a new and immortal life the sons who are born to her in baptism, conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of God" (Cost. dog. Lumen gentium, no. 64). The Holy Father, in his Encyclical Letter Redemptoris Mater (March 25^th 1987) contemplates the evangelisation of the Church in this clear Marian perspective: "For, just as Mary is at the service of the mystery of the Incarnation, so the Church is always at the service of the mystery of adoption to sonship through grace." (John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, no. 43), drawing strength to regenerate and form new children of God for His Kingdom from Mary’s maternal mediation.

The subject of the nineteenth international theological video-conference concerns this very truth: "The presence of the Mother of god in the evangelisation of all peoples – A meditation on the past and on future prospects".

Mary is first of all present in the evangelisation as an example: following the example of the Theotokos, all Christians, and in particular the ministers ordained by the Church, are committed to preserving with faith the Word of God, to investigating its riches with discernment, so as to provide in all eras faithful testimony to all mankind. The Council emphasises this exemplary role played by Mary: "Hence the Church, in her apostolic work also, justly looks to her, who, conceived of the Holy Spirit, brought forth Christ, who was born of the Virgin that through the Church He may be born and may increase in the hearts of the faithful also. The Virgin in her own life lived an example of that maternal love, by which it behooves that all should be animated who cooperate in the apostolic mission of the Church for the regeneration of men." (Lumen gentium, no. 65).

Mary is present in the evangelization also as the protagonist of conversion and an increased sanctity in God’s children. It was only the second century when Saint Irenaeous affirmed that Mary "has become the reason for redemption for the whole of mankind" (Adv. Haer. 3,22,4; PG 7,959) and that the Virgin’s pure womb "regenerates the men of God" (Adv. Haer. 4,33,11; PG 7,1080). Echoing these feelings Saint Ambrose wrote: "A Virgin has generated the redemption of the whole world, a Virgin has given life to all things" (Ep. 63,33; PL 16,1198).

It is with reason that the piety of Christians, also in missionary lands, is pervaded by a profound devotion to the Holy Virgin: this is an element that is noticeable in the liturgical tradition, in the pastoral one of the parishes, in holy art, in spirituality, and in the life of Marian sanctuaries. As in the past, it is the same in the present where Mary guides mankind towards the encounter with her Son, and repeats the invocation that St. Anselmo addressed to Mary in the middle Ages: "You are the mother of justification and of the justified, the mother of reconciliation and of the reconciled, the mother of redemption and of the redeemed" (see Or. 52,8; PL 158,957).

This is the subject that will be discussed from various points of view by the Theologians invited to speak at this international session and whom to whom I address my heartfelt thanks. The speeches let us remember are linked up live from ten nations in the five continents. Meditations will be addressed from Rome, from the Seat of the Congregation for the Clergy, by Professor Jean Galot, by Professor Rino Fisichella and by Professor Bruno Forte. There will also be speeches from New York by Professor Michael Hull, from Manila by Professor Gregory Gaston; from Taiwan by Professor Louis Aldrich, from Johannesburg by Professor Stuart Bate OMI, from Bogotá by Professor Silvio Cajiao, from Regensburg H.E. Professor Gerhard Ludwig Müller, from Sydney by Prof. Gary Dewery, from Madrid by Professor Carrasco Rouco, and from Moscow by Professor. Igor Kowalewsky.

I wish you all an enjoyable conference

From the Holy See, May 28^th 2003