Looking at our world from a theological perspective, this is the Theology Central Podcast, making theology central. Good afternoon, everyone. It is Sunday, May the 11th, 2025. It is currently 4.09 p.m. Central Time, and I'm coming to you live from St. Peter's Square. How did I end up in St. Peter's Square? Who is doing the driving? Look, I thought we were going out to lunch. I thought we were doing something nice. I mean, it's like, it's Mother's Day, right? So how did we end up in St. Peter's Square? Who's responsible for this? I'm supposed to be coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located in Abilene, Texas, but for some weird reason, I go live and I'm not in Texas anymore. I'm coming to you live from St. Peter's Square. Square that that's where we are. So I don't know who was doing the driving, but this is your fault. Yes. I'm in st. Peter's Square It's midday, it's Rome All right, so you somehow, I don't know who was doing the driving, I don't know who to blame, but you have us here in St. Peter's Square, we're in Rome, it's midday, the sun is kind of reflecting off the dome of the Basilica, the air is warm, but a little bit of restlessness in the air. There's some buzzing with expectation in the crowd. As we look around, there's thousands of pilgrims. Some are whispering prayers. Others are scanning the sky. What are you looking for? And they're looking at a window. What are you looking for at that window? What's going on? What is so significant about this window? What is happening on this May the 11th, 2025? I thought it was Mother's Day, but no, for some weird reason, You didn't drive us to a restaurant. You drove us right to St. Peter's Square." All of a sudden, the crowd stops talking. Why is everybody getting quiet? And then someone steps forward. White robes, steady gait, a gentle wave. It's Pope Leo XIV! Oh, that's why you drove us, you drove us here to see Pope Leo XIV. Well, what a, what a interesting surprise. Okay. It was a pretty long drive to get us here, but okay. All right. So we're, here we are at St. Peter's Square, midday, Rome, and the Pope walks out. Now, why is the Pope walking out on this Sunday, May the 11th, 2025? Why is he doing this? Well, it's not for a formal homily, so it's not going to be a homily. It's not a policy speech. Something older is going on, something rhythmic. something rooted in Easter joy and Marian devotion. Oh, this could be somewhat controversial. What is going on? Now, for most non-Catholics, you didn't even know this was going on. You don't even care. You wouldn't even... I don't even know if you would know the significance if you were there. You would just be like, oh, it's the Pope. He's walking up, but something older is happening, something rooted in tradition. Because what is happening is known as the Regina Coley. The Regina Coley. In fact, let me verify. I want to make sure I'm saying it right. Yes, the Regina Coley. That's how I would say it. My, of course, my Latin, my Italian is not very good, but I think that's that. So you may be asking, what's going on? And then I would say, sounding very smart. It's the Regina Coley. I would know what's going on as far as how to say it. Come on. born and raised in Texas. Give me a little bit of break. But I would be able to tell you, oh, this is the Regina Coley. And you'd be like, well, that's why I put you in the car to bring you to St. Peter's Square, because you're the one who went to a Catholic university to work on a degree on Catholic theology. I needed you here to tell me what's going on. So I'm going to do my very best. Now, obviously, the person who walks out, the person who's going to give this address, the person who's going to be a part of this Regina Coley, this is Pope Leo XIV. This is, he's now giving his first address as Bishop of Rome, the newly elected Pope. So what we're going to do is we're going to explore what just happened at the Regina Coli that occurred today in Rome. I'm going to do my very best to help us understand what the Regina Coli actually is, why this day, if you did not know, following the Catholic lectionary and liturgical calendar, it's Good Shepherd Sunday, and why all of this matters so deeply, especially within Catholicism. I'm also going to try my best to explain how this very brief address, because the Regina Coley, whenever the Pope gives the address, it's always pretty short. this address from Pope Leo XIV delivered, again, just moments after he stepped into his new public role, offers insight into maybe his theology, his tone, maybe his vision for the church. We're still trying to figure that out. We're still trying to figure—I'm still trying to figure out how much of the new pope do I cover. I think the reason I—one of the I think the way I'm going to try to cover it, and I think some, maybe some people will appreciate it. I don't know if some people have kind of caught on to what I'm doing. I'm not just giving you news about the Pope, but I'm trying to give you maybe information about historical and cyclical letters, like I did the last time we talked about it. In this particular case, these very significant days, the Regina Coley, what is that? What is Good Shepherd Sunday? I'm going to try to give you additional information. We're going to look at some of the phrases from the Regina Colli that would be very problematic in Protestant theology. So, I'm going to try to do more than just say, well, I mean, I could just say, hey, ladies and gentlemen, today, May the 11th, 2025, in Vatican News, Pope Leo XIV addressed the crowd in St. Peter's Square and gave his address at the Regina Coley. And he gave, he made these statements and just kind of do it in a very, you know, just kind of in a matter-of-fact way, but I don't wanna do that. I want you to imagine we're there in St. Peter's Square, right? I'm gonna keep, continue leaning into that. It's midday, there's the Pope, and he's doing this thing called the Regina Coli, and you may not have any clue, but maybe I can, by giving you all this additional information, that will make this somewhat beneficial. But I am still struggling in exactly how much to cover and how much not to cover, but I think it's important, all right? So let's go back. to this Regina Coli, because it's an ancient antiphon. Some would refer to it as a joyful cry. And it, of course, echoed across the cobblestones of Rome. And what's one of the lines of this ancient antiphon? Queen of heaven, rejoice. Alleluia. Now just right there, you already go, whoa, they say queen of heaven? Rejoice? Alleluia? What is this Regina Coley thing again? What is going on? All right, so today I'm gonna try to walk us slowly and thoughtfully through probably something probably don't know a lot about, but if you look at any news today about Pope Leo XIV, you're going to see headlines. You're going to see headlines about Pope Leo XIV delivering an address at the Regina Coley. And probably you're not going to read the article. You're not going to probably explore what is the Regina Coley. You may be even confused because, wait, If the Regina Colli is an ancient Marian antiphon, then why is the Pope speaking? Is the Regina Colli his address or is the Regina Colli this ancient antiphon? You may be a little bit confused. We're going to try to break all of that down. right? So the goal here is not to just be a news summary. I don't want it just to be a news summary. That's boring and you can get the news anywhere. I'm going to try to go a little bit deeper. I'm going to kind of begin asking questions like, what is the Regina Coley? What is Good Shepherd Sunday? Why does it matter? And then we're going to try to walk through the Pope's first official Regina Coley remarks somewhat line by line, and I'm going to try to provide context and some form of theological insight. That's my ambition. That's what I'm going to try to do. Whether I'm going to be successful, you can determine. So let's start with what is the Regina Coley? Now, it's kind of pronounced differently, maybe in Classical Latin versus Ecclesiastical Latin. I'm gonna go with Regina Coley, right? I think it's a little different in Classical Latin, but don't... I cannot say for sure. Those of you who are more... knowledgeable in Latin. You could try to how it would be somewhat different in Classical Latin and Ecclesiastical Latin, but Regina Coley is the way I'm going to go with it. Now, what does Regina Coley mean? Well, it's Latin for, come on, come on, who can get it right, class? Queen of Heaven. Queen of Heaven. And it's not just a prayer. I think it would be classified as a liturgical moment. Historically, it's one of what would be known as the Four Marian Antiphons, sung at different seasons of the church year. This particular one, right, is reserved for the Easter season, from Easter Sunday to Pentecost. and it replaces what would be as the Angelus, the prayer that normally marks 6 a.m., noon, and 6 p.m. So this replaces the Angelus, and it only replaces it during the Easter season. So you have certain prayers, certain times, but you have different prayers for different seasons. So you may have a normal prayer, the Angelus, but at these different times, but that prayer is replaced with the Regina Coli during the Easter season. right? Now, the Angelus is very penitential. It's contemplative, right? It's about, you know, repenting and penance and you're contemplating. But the Regina Coli is celebratory. It's triumphant. It's a whole different feeling. Why? It's Easter season. Easter season is about He has risen. Christ has risen from the dead. It's about celebration. So, the whole liturgical feel is different during the Easter season, where during other seasons it can be more penitential, contemplative. You get the idea. All right? Now, I could try to read the prayer to you in Latin. How much money would you give me? How much money would you donate right now to hear me try to give you this prayer in Latin? Well, it wouldn't be worth very much because it would be really, really bad. So I'm just going to give you the Regina Coley in English. Queen of heaven, rejoice. Alleluia. For he whom you merited to bear Alleluia, has risen as he said, Alleluia, pray for us to God, Alleluia. Now, already theologically, I know, you're gonna like, what? Queen of heaven? Wait, for he whom you merited to bear? What in the world is that? Pray for us to God? Obviously, in the Protestant world, there's going to be some problems. But this, the Regina Coli, is supposed to be a joyful affirmation of the resurrection and a recognition of Mary's role in the mystery of redemption. Now immediately some people are like, wait, Mary played no role in the mystery of redemption. It depends on how we are explaining that, right? Because she did give birth to the eternal Son of God. In fact, historically, she would be called the Mother of God. I know some Protestants lose their mind, but Jesus Christ was truly God and truly man. She did give birth, right? So, but let's break it down. Let's just break down a few of the controversial phrases. Let's go with Queen of Heaven because A lot of people would have major issues with this phrase, so let's at least just break it down, right? And I know what you're saying, wait, I thought the Pope gave an address. If the Regina Coley is just this antiphon, why does the Pope talk? We're gonna break this all down. We're gonna break this all down, right? But let's start with the antiphon, all right? The Regina Coli is an antiphon, all right? Queen of Heaven, and that would be in Latin, Regina Coli, all right? The phrase, and of course, I'm saying it with my American Texas accent, but you get the idea. The phrase, Queen of Heaven, rejoice, hallelujah. Now, the title Queen of Heaven is rooted in the Catholic understanding of Mary's exalted role in salvation history. I know some people are not going to like that, but okay. It affirms her as the mother of the King, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is King of Kings. Mary is his mother. She is the mother of the king of kings, the risen Lord. And thus, by tradition or traditional analogy, she then would be seen as queen. If he is king and she is his mother, she gave birth, right? then she would be seen as queen. In biblical monarchies, the mother of the king would often be regarded as queen. So, some may say Bathsheba would have been the queen mother to Solomon. And they would kind of point to maybe 1 Kings chapter 2, 1 Kings chapter 2, as somewhat of a justification for this. 1 Kings 2, my job here is not to do an apologetic for Catholicism, I'm just trying to help you understand the phrase. 1 Kings 2, verse 19. Bathsheba therefore went unto King Solomon to speak unto him for Adonijah and the king rose up to meet her and bowed himself unto her." Here's the king bowing himself to his mother and sat down on his throne and caused a seat to be set for the king's mother and she sat on his right hand. as if she is queen. So, they would say, if we're going to take this traditional analogy, Jesus is king of kings, well then Mary would be queen because he is king and she was the mother. Now, That's just—I'm just helping you understand how it works in Catholic theology. I'm not defending it, not justifying it, not arguing pro or against. I'm just helping you understand because when this antiphon is said, Protestants will immediately react. Your reaction is fine. You just want your reaction to be based on a clear understanding of what's going on within that tradition. Whether you agree or disagree, you at least want to speak from a position of knowledge, not one of ignorance. So, within Catholicism, calling her Queen of Heaven is not a declaration of divine status. It is one of honor. It is one, some may say, of spiritual authority, but derived from her relationship to Christ. Now, if somebody says, she has no spiritual authority, I understand. Just note, it's not divine status. Now, the doctrinal foundations of this would go back to an encyclical written in 1954, where Mary was formally declared to be Mary, Queen of Heaven. That's 1954, it's a much later development when it was actually formally declared in an encyclical in 1954, teaching that Jesus is King throughout all eternity. by nature and by right of conquest. So Jesus is king throughout all eternity because of his nature and because right of conquest, he came, he defeated. Through him, with him, and subordinate to him, Mary is queen. So I'm kind of pulling from the encyclical released in 1954 so that you get the idea. So Jesus is king throughout all eternity by nature and by right of conquest. through him, with him, and subordinate to him, Mary is Queen. That's how they would understand it. So, it reflects traditional teachings like the Assumption and Coronation of Mary, which is constantly, and I won't say constantly, often depicted in Catholic art and devotion. That's where this idea kind of ultimately comes from. Now, this is very important. We could get into a big debate here, but Catholics would tell you, we do not worship Mary as a goddess. The title Queen of Heaven is one of honor based on her singular role in the incarnation and redemption. It is not a claim of divinity. So Catholics are not worshiping her as a goddess. This is giving her honor based on her role in the incarnation and redemption. Now, Protestants typically will object to the title. And if you read books like, oh man, what is the name of that famous book about Roman Catholicism? Oh, I can't remember. It's a very famous book a lot of people read. I wish I could remember the name of it. And it criticizes Catholicism being basically like an ancient Babylonian pagan cult is where they took their ideas from. I can't remember the name of it. I've had to read it multiple times. People email me about it. I wish I could remember the name of it right now, but these books will grab onto this, oh, queen of heaven thing, and they typically will then try to connect this to Jeremiah 7, I think is it 718? I think this is where typically, if you listen to Protestant preaching and they wanna go after Catholicism and the Marian dogmas, they will typically go to Jeremiah 718. Teen, I believe. Yes, okay, Jeremiah 718, the children gather wood and the fathers kindle the fire and the woman knead their dough to make cakes to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods and they may provoke me to anger. Oh, see, it says queen of heaven, queen of heaven. This is the same thing. All Catholics did was steal from this. And that's what they will say. They will also, I think it's Jeremiah 44. I believe it's Jeremiah 44. I could be wrong. Jeremiah 44, I believe it's 17. Yes, Jeremiah 44, 17. And it says, but we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth to burn incense unto the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings. Now see, they call Mary queen of heaven. It's taken from this. And they try to draw a correlation. right? And Queen of Heaven in those passages, it is fair to say, is associated with pagan goddess worship. Catholic theology would say, whoa, back up! The Queen of Heaven in Jeremiah refers to false deity, like Ishtar or Astarte. I think it's Astarte. I can't remember the other one. Something along those lines. They would say, wait, this is referring to a false deity. The Catholic Church title is entirely distinct in meaning and refers to redeemed, subordinate, Christ-centered role, not a rival deity. So they were like, you're imposing this on the term. You're like, oh, it says queen of heaven. So because it says queen of heaven, any use of the term queen of heaven has to be carrying the same meaning. You're just inferring that. You're just stating that that's what they did. And they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no. Completely different things. We are referring to Mary as queen because she gave birth to the king and the mother of the king is referred to as queen. if you follow a traditional analogy. Now, I'm not saying whether it's a good thing or a bad thing. I'm just saying when Protestants make these arguments, Catholics just look at us like, what are you talking about? And we don't understand why they don't understand. And then everyone just speaks past each other. A little bit of understanding. I'm not saying agreement. I said understanding. Not saying agreement, but understanding. Okay. So, now the next phrase, so there's the queen of heaven and there's how that works. Now, for he whom you merited to bear. What is that? For he whom you merited to bear. Alleluia. You merited. Now this word can be tricky in English. Merit, and I think in our way of understanding, would say you earn something by your effort. Mary, you earn the right to bear Christ. You earned it by something you did. You merited it. And it definitely does sound that way. I mean, it does sound very problematic in my English ears. But in Latin, in Latin theological usage, let me make it very clear, in Latin theological usage, especially medieval latin the latin phrase or the latin word can mean being found worthy or graced with a privilege for he whom you were graced with the privilege to bear is how maybe many in a kind of uh Medieval Latin would have heard it. For he, Christ, whom you, Mary, was graced with a privilege to bear, to give birth to. So Catholic interpretation of this phrase, for he whom you married, would Mary did not earn the right to bear Christ by her own power, but was graced by God in a unique way. All right, thus the church sees her as most blessed among women, full of grace, Luke 1.42 and Luke 1.28. Well, if you go to Luke chapter one, Luke chapter one, These are actually biblical, there's nothing, there shouldn't be anything controversial about this. Luke 1, verse 28, and the angel said unto her, hell, thou art highly favored. The Lord is with thee, blessed are thou among women. She is the most blessed among women. And then Luke, let's see, and then say Luke, that's Luke 1, 28, and then Luke 1, 42. Verse 42, and he said with a loud voice, blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. All right, so blessed, highly favored in a woman's womb. See, Luke 128, and thou are highly favored in the King James. I think there's other translations who do it differently. I think some may go full of grace, and I think that may come from a Catholic translation. I have to look at all the English translations. But they're borrowing from these phrases, all right? So they're basically saying, look, she was blessed, she was graced with the privilege to bear Christ. So they would say, this phrase is not about Mary achieving something independently of grace, rather it expresses a recognition of her unique role, chosen and prepared by God, and a poetic and liturgical way to affirm the mystery that the Son of God took flesh in her womb, and that she said, yes. Let this happen to me. I will accept this. So Queen of Heaven is a title of honor, not divinity, pointing to Mary's role in relation to Christ the King. He whom you merited does not suggest work-based salvation, but a recognition of her graced participation in God's redemptive plan. All right, so that's the Regina Coley. Now remember, let me just read the whole Regina Coley, the phrase, let me read it to you. Regina Coley is, hang on, let me get the whole thing. Queen of heaven, rejoice, alleluia, for he whom you mentioned to bear, alleluia, has risen, as he said, alleluia, pray for us to God, alleluia. Now, that does have the idea of Mary praying for us, and remember the way they see it is that there is a connection between us and the communion of saints, There's a connection between us and the communion of saints, and as a result, we can ask them to pray for us, and we can get into a whole discussion about the good, the bad of that. All right? So, there's the Regina Colli. However, this is what people don't know. When you get to the modern Vatican context, The Regina Coli refers to a short address that the Pope delivers from the window of the Apostolic Palace at noon on Sundays during the Easter season. It's typically followed by the prayer itself and a blessing. So when you hear Regina Coli, there's kind of the prayer, the antiphon that we just took apart, and then the Pope gives an actual address. So it has two meanings. Now you understand Regina Coley in two ways, the Pope's address and then the antiphon, the kind of prayer that we just took apart. But this happened on May the 11th, 2025. That's Good Shepherd Sunday. Now, Good Shepherd Sunday falls on the fourth Sunday of Easter and centers on John chapter 10, where Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The gospel passage has long been used to reflect on the pastoral role of Jesus, but also on the pastoral mission of those who serve in his name, particularly priests and religious. So, hey, I'm the good shepherd, I lay down my life for the sheep, and this shows how religious leaders are to also serve and lay down their life for the sheep. Now, that's why since 1964, Good Shepherd Sunday has also been designated as the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. So when Pope Leo XIV came out to deliver his first Regina Coli, addressed as the new Bishop of Rome on Good Shepherd Sunday, it carried significant symbolic weight. He's the new Bishop of Rome. He needs to care for the sheep in the same way Jesus did, right? Not obviously the exact same way, because Jesus was perfect, but in an imperfect way, try to reflect the same humility and care for the sheep. And it's on World Vocation Day, we need to give prayer for vocations, more people to enter into religious life, a nun, a monk, or a priest. So all of it then has symbolism, the whole thing has symbolism. So let's turn to the address, all right? The address of Pope Leo XIV on May the 11th, 2025, as we were all standing there in St. Peter's Square, because one of you drove us here, I don't know who, whoever, you're responsible. Now, this is important to note, Pope Leo's full remarks, maybe 750 words, not a lot of words. but the substance, maybe it worth somewhat of our attention, all right? So I'm just gonna try to go read through key excerpts. And if I paraphrase something, I'll try my best to let you know. I mean, I've got the entire, this is one of my things trying to figure out how to cover, you know, the Pope, you know, how much we're going to spend time doing this. Going through the additional information, what the Regina Coley is, what Good Shepherd Sunday is, talking about the encyclicals, breaking down those encyclicals, and just, that's easy to do. But when it comes to if the Pope delivers a homily, If the Pope writes a full encyclical, how much of it do I break down? Do I just read it to you? I've got to make some decisions there on what to do. kind of the path I'm on right now, and I don't know how much of this I'm going to cover, but I think someone's got to address this in a rational way, because people do crazy—people already say crazy things, right? There's already some memes going, oh, Pope Leo, that's the line. He's trying to claim to be the line of Judah. Just ridiculous things you hear in the Protestant world. Just It ticks me off so much. Insanity, right? So, someone needs to address it in a reasonable way, right? So, like, I just tried to break everything down in a reasonable way. So, we're going to take apart the address. Again, it's not long. You can look it up. Again, if you just go to the Vatican website, everything Pope Leo does, you get all the full transcripts of everything. all of his addresses, his homilies, everything he's doing, and then you can read it for yourself. That's why it gets on my nerves when I hear Protestant pastors say things about Popes and the Catholic Church, and it's like, could you just go read the document instead of lying? I said, just read it, it's not that difficult. You know, there's this thing called the internet, you can look it up and go, I'm going to read the exact document. I said, you'll take a phrase, it gets reported in the news, and then you bear false witness, you slander, you gossip, you lie, you do it all in the name of Jesus, and then you feel morally superior. Now, there's room to criticize, there's room to disagree with theology or to condemn their theology. You just want to do it accurately. Right? Okay, right. Now, now let's get to the address. He starts with a greeting and initial reflection. He begins warmly, dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday. Why would you, in a happy way, because it's Easter season. Everything is hallelujah. Everything is rejoiced. Everything is triumphant because it's Easter Sunday. Remember, in liturgical traditions, Christmas is not just a day, it's a season. Easter is not just a day, it's a season. We reduce everything to just, oh, it's a day, and oh, we talked about Jesus and that he was born in a manger. All right, now everybody move on. But in liturgical time, it's broader. It's a season. He frames his message with humility and providence. I consider it a gift from God that the first Sunday of my service as Bishop of Rome is Good Shepherd Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Easter. So he refers to this as he begins that it's a gift that on his first Sunday of service as Bishop, it's Good Shepherd Sunday. He continued by situating us in the lectionary. On this Sunday, we always hear proclaimed at Mass a passage from the 10th chapter from the Gospel of John, where Jesus reveals himself as the true shepherd who knows and loves his sheep and gives his life for them. Now, at this point, this is very foundational. It's not political. It's not cultural. It's rooted in Scripture and in Christ's identity. I'm here to serve the church." But today we remember the one who was the good shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep. a lot of symbolism there. Now, sometimes within Catholicism and liturgical traditions, the symbolism does more speaking than they actually do. In the Protestant world, we would break it down into a 45-minute sermon and trying to explain it. Sometimes in liturgical traditions, the symbolism is supposed to do the speaking. The problem is 95% of the people will sit there and not catch the symbolism, but it's his first, like, he begins his service as bishop on Good Shepherd Sunday. There you have it. So he then talks about vocations and communal support. Then the Pope connects the gospel to the world, the world day of prayer for vocations. Today, brothers and sisters, I therefore have the joy of praying with you and all the people of God for vocations, especially those to the priesthood and consecrated life. The church has such a great need for them. The Catholic church has been suffering a shortage of priests and people in religious life. They're always praying for them. They refer to it as the consecrated life. Now, whether you agree with Catholicism, whether you disagree with Catholicism, whether you hate Catholicism, whether you love Catholicism, I have always been fascinated, intrigued, almost mad at myself because I don't know if I could do what they do. Right? I mean, you look at your life and you're like, okay, say a young girl. You know what? I'm not going to pursue any romantic relationship. I'm never going to experience intimacy with a person. I'm never going to experience physical pleasure with a person. I am going to marry myself to the Church of Christ. I'm going to marry myself. I'm going to be a bride to the church of Christ, and I'm going to dedicate my life to serving Christ and his church through my prayers, my devotions, my service, whether it's serving in a hospital, in a leper colony, wherever it may be. a life of poverty, you don't own anything, you live in a convent, you're a monk, you're in a monastery, your life is given to prayer, reading, scripture, service. That's your whole life. You literally take up your cross and literally die to yourself. When I say literally, literally in the most literal way you can, spiritually speaking. That's a pretty amazing thing. for them to do. That's an amazing thing for them to, I mean, again, whether you disagree, I mean, we talk about Jesus being all I need. Jesus being sufficient, Jesus is all I need, all I hope for, all I need. But if Jesus is all we need and all we hope for and that, well then why can't we do that? But no, we have to have our families, we have to have intimacy, we have to have love, we have to have property, we have to have homes, jobs, career, we have to have fun, food, fellowship, we have to have all of this stuff, but we tell everyone Jesus is everything. I mean, the call to the consecrated life, that's, I mean, I can't even wrap my mind around that. So whether you like it or not, you got to at least say that's pretty amazing, all right? He emphasizes the church responsibility in creating an atmosphere where vocations can grow. It is important that young men and women on their vocational journey find acceptance, listening, and encouragement in their communities that they can look up to the credible models of generous dedication to God and to their brothers and sisters. This isn't just a prayer, it's a call to action. And if people don't find encouragement and credible examples, then vocations suffer is kind of what he is saying. He goes on to quote Pope Francis, but this is a paraphrase, it's not a direct quote, it's kind of a paraphrase. He says something like, let's take up the invitation that Pope Francis left us in his message for today, the invitation to welcome and accompany young people, all right? Then he addresses the youth directly, and to the young people I say, do not be afraid, accept the invitation of the church and of Christ the Lord. Don't be afraid, surrender yourself basically to Christ and the church. Now, before the prayer, the Regina Coli, he concludes the reflection with a Marian invitation. May the Virgin Mary, whose entire life was a response to the Lord's call, always accompany us in the following. So now you see how he connects it all together. This is my very first day of service as bishop. It's Good Shepherd Sunday. Remember how Christ was the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep. Hey, it's vocation day, vocation prayer day, where we pray for vocations. And it's being happening at the Regina Coley about Mary, who did what? Her response to the Lord's call is, I accept. I will do. Let this be. I will do exactly as you've called me to do. I will take on this responsibility. I will. She surrendered herself, her life, to Christ. So now that's supposed to be a model for those who would surrender their life to, well, service and the church. You see how they connected it, all right? Then, this is where in the Regina Coley today, he gets political. And this is where people, well, now it's funny. Sometimes, it's funny, many in the church will say, we need to be more involved in politics. But what they mean is the church can only be involved in politics if it agrees with their Republican MAGA politics. If you go in a different direction, then the church is too political. So what do you want? You want the church to be political, but it has to meet your political criteria. It's just such garbage. You know, that's just, I can't stand the way that works. That's why I don't like the church involved in politics at all. But this is where the Pope pivots from reflection to global moral concerns. The immense tragedy of the Second World War ended 80 years ago on May 8, after having claimed 60 million victims. In today's dramatic scenario of a piecemeal Third World War, as Pope Francis stated many times, I, too, address the world's leaders, repeating the ever-timely appeal, NEVER AGAIN WAR. It's wonderful to tell everyone not to have war. It's never going to happen because as long as people are on earth, they will kill each other, they will fight, they will take over territory, they will take over resources, they will kill, they will lie, and they will steal because the human nature is totally corrupt. But now that's my words and that's not his words. He just gives us the ever timely appeal, never again war. It's a good slogan you can put on a t-shirt. It's not going to do anything. Okay, but notice again the continuity with Francis. See, even right here, and as Regina Coley, he keeps connecting himself to Pope Francis. Now, again, on one hand, the people are still mourning the passing of Pope Francis, so he may be doing it for that reason, or it just may show, I told you, I see him as a bridge, right? He's gonna be a bridge, and in a sense, continuing on, many of Pope Francis's vision, spirit, and attitude just may be in a slightly different way, to avoid maybe many of the controversies that Pope Francis caused, but some of the things that he said. He continues, I carry in my heart the sufferings of the beloved Ukrainian people. May everything possible be done to reach an authentic, just, and lasting peace as soon as possible. Let all the prisoners be freed and the children return to their own families. And he continued, I am deeply saddened by what is happening in the Gaza Strip. May there be an immediate ceasefire. Let humanitarian aid be provided to the stricken civil population and let all the hostages be free. Now, immediately people are gonna, well, what about this? And what about that? And they just start yelling it. It's just a call for the end of suffering, the end of pain, the end of war. I don't know why Christians have such a problem with that, but many will be like, he's woke, he's liberal, he's Democrat. You know, I would like war to end. Now, do I think it's naive? Yeah, I think it's naive because it's never going to end, but the hope for it, the desire for it is good. I want the suffering to stop for everyone. He then shifts to a note of hope, I have welcomed with satisfaction the announcement of the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, and I hope that through the upcoming negotiations, a lasting accord may be reached. And then with global conflict in view, because it is the Regina Coley. He entrusts everything to Mary. I entrust this heartfelt appeal to the Queen of Peace so that she may present it to the Lord Jesus to obtain for us the miracle of peace. I know people get bothered by that. The way the Catholic mind works is if you call me or email me saying, will you pray for me? They're like, it's the same thing. It's the communion of saints. We still have communion with those saints and with others. And so we can bring our requests to Mary who will take it to Jesus. But then we could say, but through Christ and through his blood, I can bring my request directly to the throne of grace. So, but then we say that, but then we still ask other people to pray for us. Hey, I don't need to go through Mary. I can go straight to Jesus. Then why do you ask people in your church to pray for you? You can just go to Jesus. Why are you asking me to pray for you? Why are you asking your church to pray for you? Just go to Jesus. Catholics would say, it's the same thing. You say, but you're praying to someone who's dead. Well, they're very much alive, right? So you can just see the arguments could go on forever like that. The arguments could go on forever. Just want you to know how they would see it, all right? Finally, the Pope then moves to greetings. I affectionately greet you all Romans and pilgrims from various countries. He names groups from Spain, Panama, Dallas. He greets the Let's Choose Life demonstration and youth fraternity. Finally, he ends with a very human touch. Today in Italy. and in other countries, we celebrate Mother's Day. I send a fond greeting to all mothers with a prayer for them and for those who are already in heaven, happy Mother's Day to all mothers." And of course, it's Regina Coley where you are giving the antiphon of Mary, the mother of God, Mary, the mother of Jesus. So, what did we hear in this brief address? A pastoral atone, not institutional power, but shepherding presence. A reminder that the church's health depends on encouraging vocations, modeling sacrificial service. A recognition that global suffering demands moral leadership, not political silence. And a deep trust in Mary as intercessor, not in nationalism or weapons. There's nothing groundbreaking in his address today. It was a carefully crafted gesture that showed Pope Leo's 14th continuity with Francis, his focus on peace, his commitment to vocations. So maybe in his economy of words, we heard a clear signal and the signal is this. It was prayerful, it was peaceful, it was pastoral leadership, and it's showing the direction in which he's going to go, which is still going to be very much connected to Francis in many ways. That was the Regina Coli that happened today, St. Peter's Square, Rome. You drove us there, and I explained everything to you in the best of my ability. And you should be extremely impressed I was giving you all of that information while a wasp was flying around this studio that is the size of a small horse. At times it was flying right by my ear. And it was like, and it all, you know. I probably have a concussion. It bumped in the side of my head. It's like, the thing is huge. The thing is huge. And I'm like, I'm trying to talk about the Regina Coley. Could you go away? So the thing is flying around. It is gigantic. I mean, it's not the size of a horse. That's a little bit of hyperbole. Hopefully everyone caught on to that. But yeah, so I'm surprised I'm not dead. But yeah, I thought it was going to carry me away. If you kept hearing me move away from the the microphone is because I kept wanting to get, hey guys, this is a very important topic that we're talking about and I want to handle it correctly and intellectually and academically correct and historically correct. but I need to mute the mic while I kill this wasp. And I don't necessarily like to kill things, but I can't have it in the studio because the thing is, I mean, there it is. I see it. Oh man. Yeah. It's looking at me right now. It's eyeing me. It's coming for me, ladies and gentlemen. It's been my last live broadcast. Just remember, my last live broadcast was an explanation of the Regina Coley as I was killed by a wild wasp the size of a horse. All right, ladies and gentlemen, that's not really the conclusion I had in mind, but there you go. Now, if you hear people talk about, the Pope was at the Regina Coli, what is that? Now you can say, well, I know, and now you know. All right, lots of symbolism in everything that happened. I just want you to capture all the symbolism. Kind of, he begins his work as bishop of the church on Good Shepherd Sunday, Christ is the Good Shepherd, it's Mother's Day, It's the Regina Coley where you sing this antiphon to Mary, the mother of God, the mother of Jesus. It's a day of vocations where we think about sacrificing your life, consecrating your life to service as Mary. gave herself to bring Christ into the world. The symbolism is all over it. The thing with liturgical ideas and concepts is the symbolism is amazing. Just nobody ever sees the symbolism. They're, Oh, they did that, whatever. It's like, you got to stop. And if you drink in all the symbolism, you're like, wow, we don't do the symbolism so much. We'd like to preach it and to break it down line by line. So the symbolism is nice. It's just, it's so missed that whatever, but there you have it. Now, you know, all you need to know. And I am going to go before. I die because it's right there. All right. Thanks for listening. Everyone have a great day. God bless.