page_title: Catholic Marian movements and societies
section_title: Marian Movement of Priests
hierarchical_section_title: Catholic Marian movements and societies / Late 20th century / Marian Movement of Priests
context_page_description: Catholic Marian movements and societies have developed from the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary by members of the Catholic Church. These societies form part of the fabric of Mariology in the Catholic Church. Popular membership in Marian organizations grew significantly in the 20th century, as apparitions such as Our Lady of Fátima gave rise to societies with millions of members, and today many Marian societies exist around the world.
context_section_description: The Marian Movement of Priests was founded by Father Stefano Gobbi in 1972, on the 55th anniversary of Our Lady of Fátima. According to the organization, its members now include over 400 Catholic cardinals and bishops, more than 100,000 Catholic priests, and several million lay Catholics worldwide.
  Father Gobbi had not claimed a Marian apparition, but had reported interior locution from the Virgin Mary, i.e. an internal voice from the Blessed Virgin that urged him to have confidence in the Immaculate Heart of Mary and to gather those priests that would be willing to consecrate themselves to Immaculate Heart of Mary and be strongly united with the Pope and the Catholic Church.
  In 1973, he wrote his  interior locutions as messages which were published in the book: "To the Priests, Our Lady's Beloved Sons" and received imprimaturs from three Catholic cardinals. Pope John Paul II, who had a personal devotion to the Virgin Mary, used to meet with and celebrated mass with Father Gobbi in his private papal chapel in the Vatican on an annual basis for several years. In November 1993, Pope John Paul II also provided an official papal blessing for the American branch of the organization in St. Francis, Maine but did not offer an imprimatur for the book.
  The movement places special emphasis on the power of praying the Holy Rosary and Eucharistic Adoration as effective means of strengthening the Church. Father Gobbi has held cenacles of varying sizes on every continent. The cenacle he held in Ōita, Japan on June 2, 1978 was for a few priests and nuns while the cenacle he held in Mexico City on November 27, 1994 was attended by 20,000 people in the city stadium.
caption: Madonna with Angels, Bouguereau, 1900
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