Buenos Aires, Argentina, May 11, 2010 / 09:59 am
At a Mass for Argentina’s bicentennial, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, called on the faithful to remember that the country has a “mother” in the Virgin Mary, and urged them to work as her children for “peace and harmony.”
The Mass took place on the feast of the national patroness, Our Lady of Lujan.
After recalling the example of Mary who “shows great care for Argentina from deep down in her heart, beginning with the poor,” Cardinal Bergoglio underscored that Argentineans must not allow themselves to be overcome by despair.
“Let us look to the Virgin Mary and ask her not to let us go. We ask her for the grace to know how to work for our homeland, to make it grow in peace and harmony, to give us the grace to feel we are brothers and sisters, removing all hatred and anger from among us,” the cardinal said.