Pope Francis and Devotion to the Blessed Virgin

Our Lady of Lujan

All the Popes of modern times have been devoted to the Blessed Virgin.

I think Thursday's visit to St. Mary Major demonstrated to the Church the Holy Father's devotion to Our Lady, but as time goes on, I think we will see just how deep the Pope's devotion really is.

I'm told he led many pilgrims to the shrine of Our Lady of Lujan, the patroness of Argentina, but I also found out that he more or less introduced devotion to Our Lady, Untier of Knots to the faithful of Buenos Aires.

I came across a story of a goldsmith who is creating a special chalice for the Holy Father, a gift from the Argentine people.

“It’s a particular gift, it’s for a friend, for a good man, but this is not just a gift coming from me. It comes from the Argentine people,” goldsmith, Juan Carlos Pallarols said, still moved by the news of "Pope Jorge's" election.

“It will be simple. It will feature images of Our Lady of Lujan and Mary Untier of Knots, whose first painting was brought into the country by him. It will also feature Jesuit symbols and Argentine icon. It will be made of silver, a metal that represents our country.” - Read more here.
 

The Holy Father is devoted to the Rosary; inspired by the example of Blessed John Paul, he prays the full Rosary every day.  Story here.

People may recall that in the 1980's a series of apparitions of Our Lady of the Rosary to Mrs. Gladys Quiroga de Motta took place at San Nicolas de los Arroyos, which is located in a Buenos Aires province, in Argentina.  The apparitions/messages were approved by the local Bishop, although I haven't come across Cardinal Bergoglio's name in connection with the site.  I noted on a news program that he frequently said Mass at a little chapel in the slums of Bueno Aires, which contained a large retablo of what appeared to be Our Lady of the Rosary of San Nicolas.