Pope tweets a prayer to the Virgin Mary for help in difficulties

December 10, 2013 - In a post on the social media, Pope Francis on Tuesday urged Christians to seek the help of the Virgin Mary in moments of difficulties. “Mary, Our Mother, sustain us in moments of darkness, difficultly and apparent defeat,” the Pope prayed on his Twitter handle @pontifex. The Pope’s thoughts on the Virgin Mary followed closely on the heels of the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Sunday, when he paid a floral homage to the statue of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Rome and paid a visit to the city’s Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica, the world’s largest church and first basilica dedicated to Mary. The Pope has a special devotion to the Mother of God, to whom he dedicated his visit in the Roman Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore the morning after his March 13 election. He also revisited the basilica on 4 May to recite the rosary and then on 20 July when he came "to ask the Virgin for her protection for the upcoming apostolic journey to Brazil, for the young people who will gather for World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro and for all young people in the world." On his return from Brazil, he first dropped at the basilica.