Vatican City, Aug 26, 2017 / 05:42 am
As the highly revered image of Our Lady of Czestochowa prepares to get a new crown, Pope Francis sent a message to Poland, saying Mary in many ways is at the heart of Polish society as their tender queen and mother.
"If Czestochowa is at the heart of Poland, it means that Poland has a maternal heart; it means that every beat of life happens together with the Mother of God," the Pope said in his Aug. 26 videomessage.
"To her you usually entrust everything: the past, present, future, the joy and sorrows of your personal lives and if your beloved country. This is very beautiful," he said.
The image of Czestochowa, he said, shows that Mary is not "a distant queen that sits on her throne," but is rather "the Mother who embraces her Son and, with him, all of us her children."