Padre Pio: "Love Our Lady and make her loved"

At the beatification of Padre Pio on May 2, 1999(1), Pope John Paul II did not fail to note the "tender and constant devotion" to Mary of the new Blessed: 

"His devotion to Our Lady was evident in every manifestation of his life: in his words and writings, in his teaching and in the advice he gave to his many spiritual sons. 

A true son of Francis of Assisi, the new Blessed did not tire of instilling in the faithful a tender, profound devotion to Our Lady, rooted in the true tradition of the Church.

At the end of his life, he addressed his thoughts, as he had done all his life, to the Blessed Virgin Mary: "Love Our Lady and make her loved; always recite the Rosary and recite it as often as possible."

Pope John Paul II

Excerpt from his homily of May 2, 1999 

The same pope would later canonize Blessed Padre Pio, on June 16, 2002