Vatican City, Jun 1, 2014 / 07:11 am
Hundreds of clergy, religious, and laity processed through the Vatican gardens in a candlelight vigil on Saturday evening to mark the close of a month traditionally dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
Led by Cardinal Angelo Comastri, the pilgrims prayed the rosary and sang Marian hymns as evening fell over the Vatican. Families with infants and small children processed alongside religious sisters and priests as meditations on the life of Christ were read.
Cardinal Comastri began the procession by reading a passage from Pope Francis' recent encyclical, Evangelii Gaudium. Mary is "the mother of the evangelizing Church and without her we cannot fully understand the spirit of the new evangelization," he reminded the faithful gathered behind the St. Peter's Basilica on May 31.
As the crowds walked slowly up the hill behind the Church of St. Stephen of the Abyssinians, the echoes of the "Ave Maria" being sung between decades of the rosary rang out. Candles were raised high at each refrain of the angel Gabriel's words to Mary at the annunciation.