Praying for us sinners: why Pope Francis and millions of Catholics have loved Mary

As a symbol of the sacred feminine and an antidote to the church's masculine rituals, the mother of Christ grounds and humanises the religion for so many, offering warmth and intercession

- Marianne Thamm

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.