Cardinal Sodano Invokes Mary Before Conclave

On February 11th, Cardinal Sodano responding to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's resignation said:  

And you did not hesitate, although moved with emotion, to answer that you accepted, trusting in the Lord's grace and the maternal intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church. Like Mary on that day she gave her 'yes', and your luminous pontificate began, following in the wake of continuity, in that continuity with your 265 predecessors in the Chair of Peter, over two thousand years of history from the Apostle Peter, the humble Galilean fisherman, to the great popes of the last century from St. Pius X to Blessed John Paul II.  –Cardinal Sodano, February 11

Today in his homily during the "Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice” Mass, Sodano in his homily invoked the intercession of Mary: 

My brothers, let us pray that the Lord will grant us a Pontiff who will embrace this noble mission with a generous heart. We ask this of the Lord, through the intercession of Mary most holy, Queen of the Apostles and of all the Martyrs and Saints, who through the course of history, made this Church of Rome glorious through the ages. Amen.

It is clear that the Mother of God is praying for this conclave.  Her intercession has been invoked numerous times over the past weeks and month.  Today, as black smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel, let us continue to invoke the maternal solicitude of Mary, who is the Queen of Apostles, Martyrs and the Saints.  Let us pray that the next Holy Father, like Pope Emeritus Benedict, say "fiat" to the will of God for their ministry in the Church.