D. Delfim Gomes, auxiliary bishop of Braga, presided over Sunday over the solemn Eucharist of the pilgrimage of Nossa Senhora de Porto de Ave, in the parish of Taíde, in the municipality of Póvoa de Lanhoso. During the celebration, the prelate appealed to the faithful to assume a permanent attitude of service to others, stating that "there is always one more brother or sister that needs to be loved and welcomed" and that "our debt of love is never paid."
The Catholic leader presented the Virgin Mary as a "sentinel of humanity" who, across several generations, "guarded families, accompanied suffering, sustained hopes, and inspired gestures of reconciliation." D. Delfim Gomes warned that the life of communities must be recentered on the essential, emphasizing that "the Christian is one who, like Christ, loves without calculation, without reciprocity, without limits, without measure."
Before the sanctuary filled with pilgrims, the auxiliary bishop clarified that "true devotion is not in what we can offer Him, but in the charity we are capable of living and witnessing," describing Nossa Senhora as "the bridge that unites, never the wall that separates."
The mayor of Póvoa de Lanhoso, Frederico Castro, praised the festivity for being "part of a historical and religious heritage that is unique" in the municipality. The parish priest of Taíde, Father Augusto Freitas Baptista, made a positive assessment of the celebration, noting that the spiritual dimension "was very moving" through the nine days of the novena, during which the sanctuary was full to hear preaching with "very concrete and very practical examples from daily life."
