May 24 - Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary Help of Christians - established by Pope Pius VII in 1816 by decree of September 16 for the entire Catholic Church. As an expression of gratitude to the Mother of God for his return to Rome from Napoleonic captivity, the French Emperor Napoleon I, when he took Rome in 1809, demanded that the Pope give the Vatican to his rule, the Holy Father did not agree to this sacrilege, replying to the Emperor: "We cannot give away anything that does not belong to us. The power over the ecclesiastical state belongs to the Roman Church, and we are only its administrators. Then, on Napoleon's order, the pope was abducted and imprisoned in Savona. The Pope was only freed when Napoleon began to lose in 1814. On May 24, 1814, Pope Pius VII entered Rome amid great cheers from the people after nearly 5 years of captivity and absence. All ecclesiastical property and rule over the ecclesiastical state were returned to him. The Pope declared that he was free thanks to the intercession of the Mother of God and to commemorate his return to Rome, he established the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Christians.