Pope Francis had great love and loyalty for Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the four papal basilicas of Rome. The Pontiff always prayed after each of his trips to this basilica, the largest one dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Pope Francis, even in the last years of his life, despite significant health problems, was seen in a wheelchair praying in front of the famous icon of the Virgin Mary that has been in this particular church for centuries.

Many link Pope Francis‘ love for this particular temple to the fact that he came from the Jesuit order, who are historically linked to the cult of the Virgin Mary and which pioneered the Roman Catholic Church’s official designation of the Virgin Mary as the Mother of God.

Outside the temple, the Pope had a special connection with the famous icon of the Virgin Mary in that temple, named “Salus Populi Romani” – For the health of the people of Rome – Protectress of the Romans. The Pope has been photographed dozens of times praying in front of this particular icon, for which he even commissioned and allocated significant funds to be maintained by the competent specialized department of the Vatican from 2017 to 2018.

The Pope’s latest offering to Our Lady, the patroness of Rome, was a bouquet of solid gold roses placed in front of the icon.

This particular icon of the Virgin Mary has a long history that connects it to our country and specifically to Crete. According to the historical archives of the Vatican, the icon of the Virgin Mary, for which there have been two different versions regarding the date of hagiography, was brought to Rome via Tiberius by ship from Byzantine-ruled Crete in 590 AD and was received with honours by Pope Gregory the Great.

For centuries, the icon stood above the baptistery within the church of Santa Maria Maggiore until the 13th century,y when it was moved to a special marble case for its protection.

In the icon, the theological name of the Virgin Mary (Mother of God) is visible in Greek and appears to have been painted during the Byzantine period, from how the Virgin Mary holds the young Jesus in her arms. Legends link this particular icon to the Evangelist Luke, who is said to have painted it in John’s house, where the Virgin Mary herself had taken refuge after Jesus’ crucifixion.

Legend has it that Luke was inspired by this particular image while the Virgin Mary was recounting moments from the life of Jesus, with Luke sculpting it on the surface of the table that Mary had taken as a memento of her husband Joseph from the house in which they lived as a family. The icon is said to have been found by St. Helen and Constantine the Great in Crete.

More recent researchers note that there is a possibility that the icon may have been painted much later (13th century) by Byzantine hagiographers working on behalf of the papal gate at the Vatican.

In any case, this particular icon was taken for granted to be associated with the Jesuit order, to which Pope Francis belonged, and was how the Virgin Mary was used as a bastion and pillar of the faith.