Vatican City, Nov 11, 2020 / 08:30 am
Pope Francis blessed a statue of the Immaculate Virgin Mary of the Miraculous Medal at the end of his Wednesday general audience.
The statue will soon begin to travel around Italy as part of an evangelization initiative by the Vincentian Congregation of the Mission. The pope met with a delegation of Vincentians, led by their superior general, Fr. Tomaž Mavrič, on Nov. 11.
The Vincentians said in a statement that this year-long Marian pilgrimage of the image of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal would help to proclaim the merciful love of God at a time "marked by strong tensions on every continent."
The Miraculous Medal is a sacramental inspired by the Marian apparition to St. Catherine Labouré in Paris in 1830. The Virgin Mary appeared to her as the Immaculate Conception, standing on a globe with light streaming from her hands and crushing a serpent underfoot.