God entered the world patiently, through Mary

In a television appearance aired on December 17, 2018, in Italy, the pope talked with Fr. Marco Pozza, a theologian and chaplain of the Padua prison, particularly about the prayers of the Hail Mary and the Magnificat.

"When God entered the world through Mary, he came patiently." And developing this idea, he said, "When I see Christians being patient—the sick who accept their illness, mothers, the elderly who put up with their loneliness, inmates, and all those who suffer patiently—I think that those who suffer patiently share in the passion of God in Christ."

"Being patient” the pope continued, “means having the ability to carry life’s difficulties on one's shoulders with a sense of hope, looking onward. Only a passionate person is capable of or being patient. Those who haven’t experienced what Christian passion is, can only at best be tolerant."

Pope Francis also emphasized that "the Church is feminine, the Church is not masculine. We clerics are men, but we are not the Church. The Church is feminine because she is a wife."

"There is a perception of the 'maternity' of the Church that comes from the 'motherhood' of Mary, the 'tenderness' of the Church that comes from the tenderness of Mary," he concluded.

Zenit