WASHINGTON — Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, acknowledged “the struggle” that is Haiti’s “reality,” but he assured an estimated 5,000 Haitian Catholics gathered in Washington that Mary “walks with us in our struggles” as a mother.

The cardinal, who was apostolic nuncio in Haiti from 1995 until 1999, celebrated the Mass for the annual Haitian Catholic Community Pilgrimage to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington Dec. 6.