Pope Francis blesses statue of Saint Rita of Cascia

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday blessed a 6-meter-high statue of Saint Rita of Cascia, at the end of his General Audience.

The 30-ton work of art will be placed at the crossroad between Cascia  and Roccaporena, the birthplace of the “Patron Saint of Impossible Causes.”

Pope Francis invited everyone in the upcoming Jubilee of Mercy to “reread her extraordinary human and spiritual experience as a sign of the power of God's mercy”.

The work was a gift from Maronite Catholics from Lebanon.

“It is a surprising thing, this special devotion in Lebanon to our Saint,” said Mario De Carolis, the Deputy Mayor of Cascia, who also pointed out Saint Charbel had a devotion to the 15th Century saint.

He told Vatican Radio he recently visited Lebanon, and “in every Church there was a statue to St. Rita.”

“This impressed us,” he said, adding it was an “honor” to have the Maronites put the statue to the Saint at the entrance of Cascia.