Tuam, Ireland, Aug 26, 2018 / 04:05 am
On Sunday during a quick visit to Knock Shrine in county Mayo, Pope Francis entrusted the Irish people to the care of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
"Mary our Mother is also the Mother of the Church, and it is to her that we commend today the journey of God's faithful people on this emerald isle," he said Aug. 26.
"Amid the storms and winds that buffet our times, may they be a bulwark of faith and goodness, resisting, in the best traditions of this nation, all that would diminish our dignity as men and women created in God's image," he said, during what was a rainy, foggy morning in the west Ireland village.
Giving to the shrine a golden rosary, the pope recognized the Irish tradition of praying a family rosary and encouraged the around 45,000 people present to continue doing so. "Who can tell how many hearts… have drawn comfort and strength" from meditation on the rosary, he said.
After praying in silence inside the shrine – which was built on the site of an 1879 apparition – Pope Francis gave a brief speech, in which he also asked for the intercession of Our Lady for healing for abuse victims and for all Christians, that they may resolve to never again let those things happen.