Pope Leo XIV celebrates the Mass of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Church of St. Thomas of Villanova in Castel Gandolfo, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Aug 15, 2025 / 10:43 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday presided over the Mass of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Church of St. Thomas of Villanova in Castel Gandolfo, encouraging Catholics to renew the Mother of God’s song of praise — known as the Magnificat — in their own lives.

Approximately 200 people, including Castel Gandolfo Mayor Alberto de Angelis, attended the pope’s solemn Mass held at the pontifical parish to commemorate the Church’s dogma of faith that Mary was assumed, body and soul, into heaven.

In his Aug. 15 homily, the Holy Father described Mary’s encounter with her cousin Elizabeth as a “crowning moment of her life” on earth.  

“The Magnificat, which the Gospel places on the lips of the young Mary, now radiates the light of all her days,” he said in his homily.

“One single day,” he continued, “contains the seed of every other day, of every other season.”

Highlighting the enduring significance of Mary in the life of the Church, the pope said her Magnificat, recorded in St. Luke’s Gospel, “continues to be sung in the Church ‘from generation to generation,’ at the close of every day” in the Liturgy of the Hours.

Encouraging Catholic faithful to reflect deeper on Mary’s song of praise expressed at a “decisive moment” in her vocation, the Holy Father encouraged Catholic faithful today to also give their “yes” to God.

“The surprising fruitfulness of barren Elizabeth confirmed Mary in her trust,” he said in his homily. “It anticipated the fruitfulness of her ‘yes,’ which extends to the fruitfulness of the Church and of all humanity whenever God’s renewing Word is welcomed.”

According to Pope Leo, Mary’s Magnificat “strengthens the hope of the humble, the hungry, the faithful servants of God” and is renewed in the Church through the witness of its members.

“Even in our own day, the poor and persecuted Christian communities, the witnesses of tenderness and forgiveness in places of conflict, and the peacemakers and bridge-builders in a broken world, are the joy of the Church,” he said.

“They are her enduring fruitfulness, the firstfruits of the kingdom to come,” he added. “Let us be converted by their witness!”

Pope Leo’s Angelus address in Piazza della Libertà

After praying the midday Angelus prayer with crowds of people gathered in Piazza della Libertà, Pope Leo spoke of the importance to believe, with Mary, that God continues to come to the aid of people in the world.

“Mary, whom the risen Christ carried body and soul into the glory, shines as an icon of hope for her pilgrim children throughout history,” he said.

Calling people to be pilgrims of hope in the 2025 Jubilee Year, the Holy Father spoke of the need for Christians to realize that life on earth is oriented toward God.

“On the path of life, our goal is God, infinite and eternal love, fullness of life, peace, joy, and every good thing,” he said. “The human heart is drawn to such beauty and it is not happy until it finds it.”

Entrusting the Church’s prayer for peace to the intercession of Mary, Leo told the crowds that Pope Pius XII declared the Marian dogma of the Assumption in 1950, five years after World War II ended.

“Even today, sadly, we feel powerless before the spread of violence in the world — a violence increasingly deaf and insensitive to any stirring of humanity,” he said. “Yet we must not cease to hope: God is greater than the sin of human beings.”