[NEWS] Pope blesses a grotto adorned with 100K knots and inspired by 'Mary, Undoer of Knots' painting

From the Associated Press, via the Star Tribune: 

Pope Francis made an unannounced stop Sunday to bless an art installation, a grotto adorned with 110,000 knots, each representing a personal hardship or societal challenge.

The work was inspired by one of his favorite paintings, "Mary, Undoer of Knots." It shows Mary untangling a long ribbon — a symbol of smoothing life's difficulties.

The painting hangs in a church in Augsburg, Germany, where then-Rev. Jorge Mario Bergoglio saw it while studying in the mid-1980s. Deeply touched, the future pope brought copies back to Argentina, where a huge devotion grew and spread to neighboring Brazil and beyond. Its title can also be translated as "Mary, Untier of Knots."