Catechesis on Revelation 12 (General Audience, 29 May 1996; collected in Theotókos) — English translation from L'Osservatore Romano, weekly English edition (5 June 1996), as reproduced by EWTN; Italian original at vatican.va (official text, quoted at the cited paragraph)
The 12th chapter of Revelation, which speaks of the "woman clothed with the sun" (12:1), is often cited too as biblical testimony on behalf of the Immaculate Conception. Current exegesis agrees in seeing in this woman the Community of God's People, giving birth in pain to the risen Messiah. Along with the collective interpretation, however, the text suggests an individual one in the statement: "She brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron" (12:5). With this reference to child-birth, it is acknowledged that the woman clothed with the sun is in a certain sense identified with Mary, the woman who gave birth to the messiah. The woman-community is actually described with the features of the woman-Mother of Jesus.
Identified by her motherhood, the woman "was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for her delivery" (12:2). This note refers to the Mother of Jesus at the Cross (cf. Jn 19:25), where she shares in anguish for the delivery of the community of disciples with a soul pierced by the sword (cf. Lk 2:35). Despite her sufferings, she is "clothed with the sun"—that is, she reflects the divine splendour—and appears as a "great sign" of God's spousal relationship with his people.
These images, although not directly indicating the privilege of the Immaculate Conception, can be interpreted as an expression of the Father's loving care which surrounds Mary with the grace of Christ and the splendour of the Spirit.
Finally, Revelation invites us more particularly to recognize the ecclesial dimension of Mary's personality: the woman clothed with the sun represents the Church's holiness, which is fully realized in the Holy Virgin by virtue of a singular grace.
This text is under copyright; the cited paragraph is quoted for study, with a link to the full document. Translation: English translation from L'Osservatore Romano, weekly English edition (5 June 1996), as reproduced by EWTN; Italian original at vatican.va.
Why Pitre cites it
The woman clothed with the sun 'is in a certain sense identified with Mary,' and her pangs 'refer to the Mother of Jesus at the Cross.'
Notes
This is the Theotokos-series catechesis that treats Revelation 12 (in the section on the scriptural basis of the Immaculate Conception; the Italian title is 'La Chiesa vede nel Protovangelo...'). vatican.va hosts the 1996 audiences only in Italian/Spanish/German, so the English is taken from EWTN's L'Osservatore Romano text; checked against the Italian original ('una certa identificazione della donna vestita di sole con Maria'; 'Questa annotazione rimanda alla Madre di Gesù presso la Croce'). The English reads 'This note refers to the Mother of Jesus at the Cross' and 'in her pangs of birth'. Three opening/closing quotation marks dropped in the EWTN transcription were restored; otherwise verbatim. Four paragraphs of n. 3 given (the Rev 12 discussion).