Pope Francis’s homily on Wednesday — New Year’s Day, 2025 — was set in a Marian key and turned on the Marian title, “Mother of God,” celebrated on January 1st.

“In praying to Our Lady as the Mother of God,” Francis said, “we proclaim that Christ was begotten of the Father, yet also truly born of a woman.”

“The Apostle Paul sums up this mystery by telling us that ‘God sent forth his Son, born of a woman’ (Gal 4:4),” Pope Francis said. “Those words – ‘born of a woman’ – echo in our hearts today,” he said, “they remind us that Jesus, our Savior, became flesh and is revealed in the frailty of the flesh.”