Rome Newsroom, Aug 15, 2025 / 10:43 am

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday presided over the Mass of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Church of St. Thomas of Villanova in Castel Gandolfo, encouraging Catholics to renew the Mother of God’s song of praise — known as the Magnificat — in their own lives.

Approximately 200 people, including Castel Gandolfo Mayor Alberto de Angelis, attended the pope’s solemn Mass held at the pontifical parish to commemorate the Church’s dogma of faith that Mary was assumed, body and soul, into heaven.

In his Aug. 15 homily, the Holy Father described Mary’s encounter with her cousin Elizabeth as a “crowning moment of her life” on earth.

“The Magnificat, which the Gospel places on the lips of the young Mary, now radiates the light of all her days,” he sa

See Full Page