Dear brothers and sisters,

With joy, I join you in this prayer Vigil at the conclusion of the Month of May. It is a gesture of faith with which, in a simple and devoted way, we gather under the maternal mantle of Mary.

This year, then, it recalls some important aspects of the Jubilee we are celebrating: praise, the journey, hope, and above all, faith contemplated and manifested chorally.

You have prayed the Holy Rosary together: prayer, as John Paul II highlighted, with a Marian appearance and a Christological heart, which “has all the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety” (Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 16 October 2002, 1).

And, in effect, meditating on the Joyful Mysteries, along the way, you entered and stopped, as in a pilgrimage, in many places of the life of Jesus: in the house of Nazareth, contemplating the Annunciation; in that of Zechariah, contemplating the Visitation, which we are celebrating today; in the grotto of Bethlehem, contemplating the Nativity; in the Temple of Jerusalem, contemplating the presentation and then the finding of Jesus. You have been accompanied, in the Hail Mary repeated with faith, by the words of the Angel to the Mother of God: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” (Lk 1:28), and those of Elizabeth who welcomes her with joy: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” (Lk 1:42).

Your stops have thus been cadenced by the Word of God, which has marked, with its rhythm, their progress, stops and departures, just as it was for the people of Israel in the desert, on the journey towards the promised Land.

Let us look, then, at our existence as a journey following Jesus, to be travelled, as we have done this evening, together with Mary. And let us ask the Lord to be able to praise him every day, “with our lives and our tongues, with hearts and mouths, with our voices and our behaviour” (Saint Augustine, Sermon 256, 1), avoiding discord: the tongue in harmony with life and the mouth with the conscience (cf. ibid.).

I greet the Cardinals present, the bishops, the priests, the consecrated persons and all the faithful. I wish to express, in particular, my affection and gratitude to the Benedictine Sisters of the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, who support our community and our work with their hidden and constant prayer.

May the joy of this moment remain and grow in us, “in our personal and family lives, in every environment, especially in the life of this family which here in the Vatican serves the universal Church” (Benedict XVI, Conclusion of the Month of May, 31 May 2012). May the Lord bless us and accompany us always, and may Mary intercede for us. Thank you!

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Holy See Press Office Bulletin, 31 May 2025