‘Sacred heart' for the marginalised — why Pope Francis and millions of Catholics have loved Mary

Daily Maverick

18-05-2025

For a figure who appears only momentarily in the Bible before disappearing, Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, plays a significant role in the Catholic Church.
The head of the church is God and it is Mary's devotion, belief and loyalty that connect God to the church's body, comprising billions of Catholics. Mary is the neck that links the two. In other words, Mary has God on speed dial.
For believers, the Virgin Mary is the universal mother-cum-confidante, she to whom you can reveal your truest self and ask for intercession and protection. For the late Pope Francis, Mary provided a sacred feminine space away from Catholicism's masculine rituals and symbols.
Marian devotion is practised the world over, including in Mexico, Haiti, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Poland, Lithuania, France, the Philippines and Rwanda, with devotees visiting shrines annually.
Francis visited the shrine of Our Lady of Luján, a 16th-century image on display in the Basilica Luján in Argentina, the country of his birth.
He asked to be interred in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major (Maria Maggiore), the first Marian sanctuary in the world, situated outside Rome.
That he wanted to be laid to rest here is an indication of the deep significance Mary held for the deceased pope. Here he lies, returned to the holy womb, outside the walls of the Vatican where many other popes are entombed.
A mother to all
My mother, Barbara, born in the small Portuguese village of Baixo Alentejo in 1925, honoured Mary at the small Church of Our Lady of the Castle, a landmark on a hill near her village, built in 1510 along with a medieval castle.
A rock inside the small chapel has been rubbed to a polished shine by pilgrims, possibly also by my mother. She left her home, brothers and country in 1952 for England to work, never to return.
The popular shrine to Our Lady of Fatima is about 220km from my mother's Aljustrel home. It is here the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared to three shepherds in 1917, foretelling three 'secrets'. A small item of Catholic kitsch of the three shepherds stands on my bookshelf.
For a girl child whose mother died when she was six months old and who was orphaned at 12 when her father died, my mother was carried by Mary through her difficult and courageous life. All around are the statues and small fold-out altars she once owned.
Magical realism
What follows is a short recounting of a personal story involving the Virgin Mary. It begins in the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp, with its four Peter Paul Rubens and other masterpieces.
There in 2016, alongside a close friend whose mother was also Catholic, we lit candles – not because we are religious, but because they were.
We could argue that it was technology that facilitated what happened next, but let's go with the magical realism of Catholicism.
After I returned to South Africa after lighting the candle, an email arrived from someone whose mother knew my mother all those years ago. This old friend was 90 and going through a box of memorabilia when she pulled out a letter from my mother written in 1971 that contained two photographs of my brother, Albert, and me. Her daughter, now in her seventies, used the internet to find me.
Until that moment there had been no contact with family or Portugal for more than 80 years. The history of my mother's life had been silenced by a stroke, her family scattered and forgotten.
A few months later I found myself outside the locked door of my mother's family home, still in the family name in her village in Portugal. To the neighbours who flocked to find out what was going on, it was only logical that the candle lit in the cathedral should have led me to this front door.
'What is your name?'
'Marianne.'
'Who was Mary's mother?'
'I don't recall.'
'Anne. Your mother chose your name carefully. You lit a candle, you spoke to the Virgin and she led you here,' said one neighbour, who pulled out a small photograph of a surviving aunt, Jacinta, who was the last to occupy the family home.
For the village Catholics, it was only natural that Mary should intercede on my behalf.
Mary feminises Catholicism like no other religion. She mitigates the severity of the masculine dogma and offers a 'sacred heart' and an ear open to prayers of intercession for the marginalised.
Mary has carried many Catholics through their lives. For them, she stands as a symbol of the power of maternal and feminine love. DM
This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.