May Allocutio 2025

Fr. Paul Churchill, Concilium Spiritual Director

I think I will be echoing all your sentiments when I wish every possible blessing on Pope Leo, the successor of St. Peter. We genuinely wish him well, and pray the help of the Holy Spirit with him and we also pray the protection of Our Lady around him. And following the mind of Frank Duff we stand loyally with him and support him in his ministry. We must never forget that famous expression: Ubi Petrus, ibi Ecclesia. “Where Peter is, there is the Church.”

Recently I have been looking through quite a few articles of Frank Duff about Our Lady and I note a common theme he makes use of which causes me to borrow from that expression I just mentioned. For Frank Mary is essential to the Church. I paraphrase Frank this way, “Without Mary there is no Church”. So we can also say Ubi Maria, ibi Ecclesia. Mary is another sign of the true Church.

If we read the Gospels carefully this stands out. The wedding feast of Cana is also where Jesus is wedded to his Church, symbolized by His Mother Mary handing him over to his public ministry (Jn 2:1-11). John, the beloved disciple and evangelist records that, after the wedding feast of Cana, Jesus went down to Capernaum with his mother and with his brethren and disciples (Jn 2:12). This is the church in its beginning, in its embryonic state. And I see it as hugely significant that the text mentions his mother first before any other disciple. This is the Holy Spirit, symbolised in the wine of that great miracle, speaking to us. Mary is next to Jesus in his embryonic church.

And this continues. During his ministry she seems never too far away as shown by that expression of concern she shows for him when he is over-worked.

I want to say a word about her which we may have missed. Many saints, like St. Bernard (to take just one example) have understood Mary’s Fiat as said, not just as an arrangement between her and God through the kind courtesy of the Archangel Gabriel, but also a decision by her for all humanity, indeed all Creation. When Mary stood by the foot of the Cross she was there not just on her own behalf, but there for us all. She stood there as not only the purest of creatures but as the one who pleads for us all who are sinners in need of his redeeming grace, just as she had said yes for us at the Annunciation. She stands in for cowardly Peter, for Thomas who had run miles away. And when you and I turn our backs on God she stands still for us before God’s throne pleading for us. She is 100% with the Church always.

And in the run up to Pentecost she is there again with the small band of disciples who are trying to get their heads around what they had been through.

And she, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, is the catalyst that draws that Holy Spirit on them all and helps remove those fears that have been paralyzing them.

She seems to step back then but in fact if Louis Marie de Montford is right she is mentioned by Paul in his letter to the Romans (Rm 16:6). And she is clearly referred to by him in his letter to the Galatians (Gal 4:4) and it is also clear that St. Luke drew on material only she could have supplied. The beloved disciple most likely was also influenced by her. So she remains in and of the Church all the time.

And we just cannot ignore the many times she has revealed herself to certain people across history. There are the apparitions to Juan Diego in Guadalupe. We have since then had the incidents in Rue de Bac, Lourdes, Knock and Fatima, to name just a few. Louis Marie the Montford mentions many before these in his work on the Secret of the Rosary. It is clear that Mary is with us. Indeed, if you ask the faithful what prayer did she give in Rue de Bac, what her answer to Bernadette was in Lourdes, or to Juan Diego, the faithful will tell you. But if you ask people to quote one full sentence from Vatican II, well, they’d be in trouble. We listen to our mother first!

Frank Duff was very clear on her centrality in the true Church. “Mary is likewise fundamental to the Church. There are times when efforts are being made to minimize her. … any diminution of her runs counter to Chapter 8 of De Ecclesia …” (From Fear not to accept Mary). “You cannot take her out and leave the Church intact. It would cease to be the Catholic Church. Her position is primary” (From Have the mind of Mary).

Here I would like to say to you all that if the synodal process is to be a success it must have Our Lady at the heart of it just as she was there in that embryonic Church going down those roads of Galilee after the wedding feast of Cana. I ask all legionaries to speak up for her in every assembly you attend during the synodal process. Let the Legion be her spokesperson.

I began by referring to our new Pope. I cannot but note something that jumps out about him: a very special place for Our Lady. From his opening address getting us all to pray the Hail Mary, his visit to the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, to his Coat of Arms, to his having been Spiritual Director to a Curia in Peru, they all speak of a man who has a special relationship with her. He is one with us. Let’s continually pray for him. So let’s end this allocutio praying to Our Lady for him: Hail Mary…