The Pope Entrusts the World to Mary
While it seems that the new Pope, Jorge Bergoglio, intends to mark his pontificate by effecting reforms, one thing he will not reform is his mariolatry. We need not expect it when the Roman Catholic Catechism teaches: “The Church’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship”. It will be remembered that, on his first morning as Pope, he prayed before the image of Mary at the principal Marian shrine in Rome.
On October 13 he went further when he formally entrusted the whole world to Mary in the presence of a gathering of more than 100 000 in St Peter’s Square. He did so before a statue of Mary which had been transported from Portugal to the Vatican by an Italian Air Force helicopter the previous day. In concluding an address he said, “We thank you for our faith, and we renew our entrustment to you, Mother of our faith”. He also prayed, “We are certain that . . . nothing of all that lives in our hearts is unknown to you. . . . Guard our lives in your arms.”
Only to God, who is omnipotent and omniscient, can we so entrust ourselves – let alone others, or the world – and only to the divine Giver can thanks be rendered for faith, which is “the gift of God”. To present such petitions and thanks to a finite person, albeit in heaven as to her soul, is nothing short of blasphemous. As to the world, it is already under the constant dominion of the King of kings, however much His enemies exert their power. “The earth belongs unto the Lord, / and all that it contains; / the world that is inhabited, / and all that there remains” (Ps 24:1 metrical). And He shall reign until His enemies be made His footstool. NMR