From the desk of the Tar Heel disciple:
May 26, 2026 (#102)
Pentecost in China
On this Pentecost Sunday, May 24, 2026, in his midday address to the people gathered in Saint Peter’s square, Pope Leo XIV poignantly prayed for the members of the Church in China:
“Let us join our prayers with those of Chinese Catholics, as a sign of our affection for them and of their communion with the universal Church and with the Successor of Peter. May the intercession of the Queen of Heaven grant the believing community in China the grace of unity and give everyone the strength to witness the Gospel in their daily struggles, so that they might be seeds of hope and peace.”
In doing so, he continued a call to prayer initiated by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007. At that time, Pope Benedict drew attention to the suffering members of the Body of Christ who for many years have undergone persecution by their own government. He called for loyalty among them to the Successor of Peter, the Pope, for their continued commitment to evangelization in their own land, and for prayerful support by the whole Body of Christ for them in the midst of their suffering and witness. Pope Francis supported this initiative of prayer during the years of his papacy, and now Pope Leo continues to do the same.
May 24th is the date for this annual call to witness and prayer as it is the feast day of Our Lady, Help of Christians, who for many years has been venerated as their patroness by the faithful in China. She is particularly honored at the National Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Sheshan, located some 22 miles from Shanghai, China. How appropriate it is to join our prayers to those of the Holy Father for the persecuted faithful in China on Pentecost Day (on any other day!) through the intercession of the Blessed Mother. In doing so, we might use the prayer Pope Benedict XVI asked Catholics to pray on this occasion:
Virgin Most Holy, Mother of the Incarnate Word and our Mother, venerated in the Shrine of Sheshan under the title “Help of Christians,” the entire Church in China looks to you with devout affection.
We come before you today to implore your protection. Look upon the People of God and, with a mother’s care, guide them along the paths of truth and love, so that they may always be a leaven of harmonious coexistence among all citizens.
When you obediently said “yes” in the house of Nazareth, you allowed God’s eternal Son to take flesh in your virginal womb and thus to begin in history the work of our redemption. You willingly and generously cooperated in that work, allowing the sword of pain to pierce your soul, until the supreme hour of the Cross, when you kept watch on Calvary, standing beside your Son, who died that we might live.
From that moment, you became, in a new way, the Mother of all those who receive your Son Jesus in faith and choose to follow in his footsteps by taking up his Cross. Mother of hope, in the darkness of Holy Saturday you journeyed with unfailing trust towards the dawn of Easter.
Grant that your children may discern at all times, even those that are darkest, the signs of God’s loving presence. Our Lady of Sheshan, sustain all those in China, who, amid their daily trials, continue to believe, to hope, to love. May they never be afraid to speak of Jesus to the world, and of the world to Jesus.
In the statue overlooking the Shrine you lift your Son on high, offering him to the world with open arms in a gesture of love. Help Catholics always to be credible witnesses to this love, ever clinging to the rock of Peter on which the Church is built.
Mother of China and all Asia, pray for us, now and for ever. Amen!
