ROME (CNS) — Opening the holy door of the oldest Marian shrine in the Western world, Cardinal Rolando Makrickas prayed that the world would entrust itself to Mary, “the door of heaven.”
“Let us offer our prayer to the Father so that, like Mary, we may be pilgrims of hope who bring Christ to the world,” declared the cardinal, coadjutor archpriest of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, before opening the door. bronze door January 1st.
As bells tolled atop Rome’s Esquiline Hill, Cardinal Makrickas became the first pilgrim to cross the threshold in the Holy Year 2025.
Among the ringing bells was one originally placed in the basilica’s bell tower – the highest point in central Rome – which served to announce the first jubilee of the Catholic Church in 1300 and was preserved in the Vatican Museums since 1884; it was returned to St. Mary Major last year before the jubilee.
Celebrating Mass on the feast of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, Cardinal Makrickas reflected on the mystery of the incarnation of Jesus in Mary’s womb, calling it the “fullness of times” because it unites earthly time to eternity.
Today, the cardinal said, humanity often seeks to “perfect time” by saving it or enriching it through technology, but “every effort results in its downfall.”
“However, one can never feel lost, exhausted or tired because of time spent with God,” he said. “It will not be ideas or technology that will bring us comfort or hope, but the face of the Mother of God.”
Cardinal Makrickas also spoke of the importance of the relics of Jesus’ manger preserved in the basilica, “the first, humble and poor dwelling of Jesus”, from which humanity began to mark time.
Every pilgrim entering the basilica during the Jubilee and praying before the icon of the Marian icon “Salus Populi Romani” (“health of the Roman people”) – which Pope Francis visits before and after each of his international trips – and the Holy Crib “I will not be able to leave here without a deep and particular feeling, a feeling and a certainty that the Heavenly Mother is with him,” said the cardinal.
“Everyone will leave here with the assurance of being accompanied by the grace, protection, care and maternal tenderness of Mary,” he said.
Saint Mary Major is particularly important to Pope Francis. He said he often visited the basilica when he visited Rome as cardinal and, breaking with recent tradition, he said he would be buried there rather than in the Vatican after his death. Six popes are buried in the basilica, and the last pope buried there was Pope Clement IX in 1669.
