Pope Francis granted an official decree of canonical coronation on 19 February 2021 towards a Marian image venerated at the National Shrine of Our Lady of China in Chiayi County, Taiwan.
Pious legends claim that the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared in white with a fiery horseman (believed to be Saint Michael the Archangel) who chased away the soldiers.
On 22 January 1982, an American shrine dedicated to the namesake Marian title was erected in Rockville, Maryland, United States under the auspices of the former Archbishop of Washington, Cardinal James Aloysius Hickey.
[3] Controversy arose due to the Marian iconography allegedly having syncretist associations to the Buddhist goddess Kuan Yin and not being officially sanctioned by the Holy Office for religious propagation.
Adding more political issues, a Chinese cardinal, Thomas Tien Keng-Hsin, sanctioned this variant image for a religious prayer card for the persecuted in China, and was widely promoted in America and Canada.