After being shot in St. Peter’s Square in 1981, Pope John Paul II was said to beseech the Virgin Mary for strength and later credited her for “guiding” the bullet from making a fatal strike.

In a Rome hospital this week, the pontiff wrote a post-surgery message that ended with his Latin motto dedicated to Mary, “totus tuus,” or “I am completely in your hands.”

The two moments of suffering spanning from the vibrant early years of John Paul’s papacy to what could be its twilight frame one of the most sweeping theological messages of his Vatican leadership: the pope’s devotion to the Virgin and his views on its fundamental role in Roman Catholic worship.

The pope’s efforts to encourage and define Catholic contemplation of the Virgin Mary may be among the most enduring features of his legacy surpassing, in theological terms, even his transformation of the papacy into a globe-trotting mission. For Catholics, the pope’s writings and addresses on Mary broaden approaches to prayer and spiritual meditations, including opening more room for thoughts about Mary’s feminine nature that appeal to women worshippers.

But it also has served to drive more wedges into Christian unity. Many evangelical groups consider heightened attention to Mary a serious deviation from Scripture. Protestant theologians debate whether it diverts spiritual energy away from Jesus Christ.

“It’s impossible to separate the pope from the devotion of Mary,” said the Rev. Giovanni Marchese, a Vatican expert for the Civilta Cattolica, an influential Jesuit magazine in Rome. “Mary is the heart and soul of his papacy.”

The 84-year-old pope has dedicated his 26-year papacy in her name and his personal crest contains the letter M for the Madonna.

“He feels always accompanied by the Madonna,” said Vatican Cardinal Julian Herranz of Spain, who joined the vigil Saturday outside Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic hospital where surgeons inserted a breathing tube in the pope’s throat Thursday after his second respiratory crisis in less than a month.

John Saward, a papal scholar at Australia’s International Theological Institute, wrote: “The Blessed Virgin is the very air the pope breathes.”

For John Paul, it began as a seminary student in Poland when he took interest in a 17th-century French pastor, Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, who saw Mary as a central figure of Christian devotion and is credited with the phrase “totus tuus.” Montfort was elevated to sainthood in 1947.

Veneration of Mary goes back to the earliest days of Christianity, but her state of grace was debated for centuries. In 1854, Pope Pius XI declared that Mary was born without the taint of original sin and lived a sinless life, just like Jesus. The doctrine has not been accepted by Protestants.

A century later in 1950 Pope Pius XII invoked the extremely rare decree of papal infallibility to say Mary was bodily assumed into heaven.

John Paul’s personal devotions often overlapped with attempts to revive declining interest in traditions such as the rosary, a cycle of prayers many dedicated to the Virgin Mary often said with the help of beads. The “Hail Mary” prayer developed over the centuries into its present form.

In October 2002, the pope proclaimed the Year of the Rosary and added another set of contemplations the “mysteries of light” to the prayers that include moments in Christ’s life. He said the rosary held particular significance for its peaceful message and as an “effective spiritual weapon against the evils afflicting society.”

A papal letter at the time also touched on one of the most prominent handicaps of his current condition: the pope’s temporary inability to talk. Doctors have advised him not to speak for several days to aid his recovery, but uncertainty remains about whether his full vocal range will return.

“Silence is one of the secrets of practicing contemplation and meditation,” the pope wrote in 2002. “One drawback of a society dominated by technology and the mass media is the fact that silence becomes increasingly difficult to achieve.”

Another major doubt is whether the pope could ever resume travel if he recovers. A decision to end his journeys would leave two trips dedicated to Mary as the possible last stops for a pope who has taken 104 international journeys and scores of others in Italy.

In August, the pontiff trembled and gasped for air during a speech at the French shrine of Lourdes, where a peasant girl, St. Bernadette, said she had visions of the Virgin Mary in 1858. Later, the pontiff wobbled and was steadied by aides while praying at the ivy-covered Lourdes grotto, where pilgrims hope the waters bring miraculous cures.

Three weeks later, more than 200,000 people gathered for the pope’s visit to a Marian shrine on Italy’s Adriatic coast.

In May 1981, just hours after the pope was wounded by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca, the pontiff asked to see the third “secret” of Fatima, the Portuguese town where three shepherd children claimed the Virgin Mary appeared to them above an oak tree in 1917 and passed along three messages.

The first two, according to Vatican accounts, foretold the end of World War I and the outbreak of World War II and the rise and fall of Soviet communism. The third prediction was withheld by the Vatican until after John Paul’s visit to Fatima in 2000.

It told of a pope being killed in an attack under a “big cross” which Vatican theologians said would have been accurate unless Mary interceded to save John Paul.