“Let us fervently implore the Virgin Mary tonight to drive wars away from our world. May she bring an end to bloodshed, atrocities, violence, and our inhumanity. Her virtue and intercession can restrain human wickedness, for she was deemed worthy by God to take an active part in the salvation of us all. Today, the Theotokos becomes the new earth and the new heaven, from which a new world arises—a world of beauty, virtue, and salvation.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew ›

His All-Holiness

Direct quote