Benedict XVI's Homily at Mass for John Paul II--April 2, 2008

... With Him [Jesus Christ], he lived, and with Him, he wanted to die. And all of this by way of the unique mediation of most holy Mary, mother of the Church, mother of the Redeemer, intimately and truly associated with the salvific mystery of his death and resurrection.   … Let us praise and bless the Virgin Mary for having ceaselessly watched over his person and his ministry for the benefit of the Christian people and all of humanity. And while we are offering for his chosen soul the redeeming Sacrifice, we ask him to continue interceding from heaven for each one of us, for me in a special way, who Providence has called to take up his inestimable spiritual heritage. May the Church, following his teaching and example, faithfully continue its evangelizing mission without compromises, spreading tirelessly the merciful love of Christ, fount of true peace for the entire world.

Benedict XVI's Address to Papal Foundation--April 4, 2008

... Commending you and your loved ones to the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of joy and peace in the Risen Savior.

Setting Out for Emmaus--Regina Caeli Address--April 6, 2008

... Through the intercession of Mary Most Holy, let us pray that every Christian and every community, reliving the experience of the disciples of Emmaus, rediscover the grace of the transforming encounter with the risen Lord.

Conclusion of Benedict XVI’s April 8, 2008 video-message to the people of the United States on the occasion of his April 15-20 visit to Washington, DC., and New York.

Dear brothers and sisters, dear friends in the United States, I am very much looking forward to being with you. I want you to know that, even if my itinerary is short, with just a few engagements, my heart is close to all of you, especially to the sick, the weak, and the lonely. I thank you once again for your prayerful support of my mission. I reach out to every one of you with affection, and I invoke upon you the maternal protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Que la Virgen María les acompañe y proteja. Que Dios les bendiga. [May the Virgin Mary accompany and protect you. May God bless you.] God bless you all.

On the Call to Evangelize--Regina Caeli address--April 13, 2008

... Dear brothers and sisters: Let us invoke the maternal protection of Mary for the many vocations that exist in the Church so that they are developed with an intense missionary character. To her, Mother of the Church and Queen of Peace, I also commend the special missionary experience that I will live in the next few days with the apostolic trip to the United States and the visit to the United Nations, as I ask all of you to accompany me with your prayers.

Benedict XVI's Address to US Bishops at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception--April 16, 2008

Dear Brother Bishops,

... My pastoral visit here is an opportunity to strengthen further the bonds of communion that unite us. We began by celebrating Evening Prayer in this Basilica dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a shrine of special significance to American Catholics, right in the heart of your capital city. Gathered in prayer with Mary, Mother of Jesus, we lovingly commend to our heavenly Father the people of God in every part of the United States. ...

Time spent in prayer is never wasted, however urgent the duties that press upon us from every side. Adoration of Christ our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament prolongs and intensifies the union with him that is established through the Eucharistic celebration (cf. Sacramentum Caritatis, 66). Contemplation of the mysteries of the Rosary releases all their saving power and it conforms, unites and consecrates us to Jesus Christ (cf. Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 11, 15). ...

As I conclude my words to you this evening, I commend the Church in your country most particularly to the maternal care and intercession of Mary Immaculate, Patroness of the United States. May she who carried within her womb the hope of all the nations intercede for the people of this country, so that all may be made new in Jesus Christ her Son. My dear Brother Bishops, I assure each of you here present of my deep friendship and my participation in your pastoral concerns. To all of you, and to your clergy, religious and lay faithful, I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of joy and peace in the Risen Lord.

Benedict XVI’s telegram of condolence for the death of Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family--April 21, 2008

... I feel close to all of you at this painful time, and I ask God, by the intercession of Our Lady of Chiquinquira, to grant eternal repose to this tireless pastor, so generously committed to the service of the Church and of the Gospel of life.

Pope Backs initiative from the Congregation for Clergy that called for spiritual mothers for priests and Eucharistic adoration for their sanctity--April 22, 2008

... I am grateful for the thoughtful action and the sentiments that the congregation has suggested, and hopeful that the love and devotion to the Eucharistic Lord and devotion to Mary, Mother of Christ the High Priest, might give new fervor to the life and the apostolate of priests.

Message for Day of Prayer for Priests celebrated May 30, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus--April 22, 2008

... We cannot live, we cannot look at the truth about ourselves without letting ourselves be looked at and generated by Christ in daily Eucharistic Adoration, and the Stabat of Mary, "Woman of the Eucharist," beneath her Son's Cross, is the most significant example of contemplation and adoration of the divine Sacrifice that has been given to us. ... Lastly, the Holy Mother of God remains an indispensable foundation of the whole of priestly life. The relationship with her cannot be resolved in pious devotional practice but is nourished by ceaseless entrustment to the arms of the ever Virgin of the whole of our life, of our ministry in its entirety. Mary Most Holy also leads us, like John, to beneath the Cross of her Son and Our Lord in order to contemplate, with her, God's infinite Love: "He who for us is Life itself descended here and endured our death and slew it by the abundance of his Life" (St. Augustine, Confessiones, IV, 12).

... As a condition for our redemption, for the fulfillment of our humanity, for the Advent of the Incarnation of the Son, God the Father chose to await a Virgin's Fiat to an angel's announcement. Christ decided to entrust, so to speak, his own Life to the loving freedom of the Mother: "She conceived, brought forth, and nourished Christ, she presented him to the Father in the temple, shared her Son's sufferings as he died on the Cross. Thus, in a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the work of the Savior in restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace" (Lumen Gentium, No. 61).

... Pope St Pius X said: "Every priestly vocation comes from the heart of God but passes through the heart of a mother." This is true with regard to obvious biological motherhood but it is also true of the "birth" of every form of fidelity to the Vocation of Christ. We cannot do without a spiritual motherhood for our priestly life: let us entrust ourselves confidently to the prayer of the whole of Holy Mother Church, to the motherhood of the People, whose pastors we are but to whom are entrusted our custody and holiness; let us ask for this fundamental support.

On the Mission of Priests--Regina Caeli Address--April 27, 2008

... I ask the local political authorities, the leaders of the international community and every person of goodwill not to give up on efforts to bring and end to the violence and the honor the commitments that have been made, in a way that will provide a solid basis for peace and development. We entrust our petitions to Mary, Queen of Africa.