Entrustment to Mary

John Paul II gave the conclusion of his Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Europa (2003) this title: "Entrustment to Mary." Commenting on the vision from the Book of Revelation, which discloses the "great sign" in heaven, "a woman robed with the sun", engaged in a monumental struggle with the dragon, he invited the Church in Europe to resolutely turn to Mary to overcome the hardships she faced at the beginning of the new millennium. Therefore, far from being an isolated act, entrustment to Mary plunges us into the history of Salvation and makes us take stock of the present time as a phase of this Universal History: "The whole Church, then, looks to Mary. Thanks to the countless Marian shrines dotting the nations of the continent, devotion to Mary is very strong and widespread among the peoples of Europe. Church of Europe! Continue to contemplate Mary, in the knowledge that she is "maternally present and sharing in the many complicated problems which today beset the lives of individuals, families, and nations" and is "helping the Christian people in the constant struggle between good and evil, to ensure that it 'does not fall' or if it has fallen, that it 'rises again'. " (#124)