In 2018 Pope Francis added a feast day for Mary, Mother of the Church to be celebrated on the Monday following Pentecost – and the date he chose was intentional. On Pentecost Sunday, we celebrate the birthday of the Church, and on the memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church, we celebrate the fact that Mary, as the mother of Our Lord, is intrinsically linked to the Church as her mother.

In issuing his decree to add this feast day to the Church’s calendar, Pope Francis wished to promote this devotion to “encourage the growth of the maternal sense of the Church in the pastors, religious and faithful, as well as a growth of genuine Marian piety.”

While the popularity of the specific expression “Mother of the Church” has grown in recent centuries, the theological roots of this title for Mary go back to the early Church.

Scripture  depicts Mary at the foot of the Cross. There she became the Mother of the Church when she “accepted her Son’s testament of love and welcomed all people in the person of the beloved disciple as sons and daughters to be reborn unto life eternal.”