Pope stops to pray before icon of Our Lady on return to Rome

Image: Vatican News

Source: Vatican News

Pope Francis made a brief stop at the Basilica of St Mary Major on Sunday evening, on returning to Rome from his Apostolic Journey to South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Holy See Press Office report that the Pope prayed before the ancient icon of Maria Salus Populi Romani ('Salvation of the Roman Peoples'), for a short time - to thank Our Lady for her maternal protection during his Apostolic Journey to DR Congo and South Sudan.

This was his 104th visit to Our Lady's icon. He had visited the Borghese Chapel in the Papal Basilica on Monday, ahead of his departure.

Although its origins date back much further, tradition holds that the icon of Maria Salus Populi Romani arrived in Rome during the reign of Pope St Gregory the Great, sometime around 590 AD.

In 1838, Pope Gregory XVI crowned the icon, and a century later, Pope Pius XII - during the Marian year of 1954 - repeated the gesture of devotion.

In 2018, the Vatican Museums cleaned and restored the ancient image.