HOMAGE TO MARY IMMACULATE AND THE AKATHISTOS HYMN

VATICAN CITY, DEC 8, 2000 (VIS) - At 4 p.m. today. solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Pope travelled in a convertible car to Rome's central Spanish Steps for the traditional homage to the statue of Mary Immaculate. He was greeted by thousands of faithful who lined the streets leading up the piazza and waiting in the square itself where the statue is located.

After placing a basket of dozens of roses at the foot of the column, atop which is the state of Mary Immaculate, the Holy Father paid homage to the Virgin.

In his prayer, John Paul II said that "today Romans renew their pilgrimage to this square where Blessed Pius IX raised the marian monument in 1856 to recall the promulgation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception (in 1854). ... As I do every year, I willingly join in this traditional floral homage, an eloquent symbol of a chorus of entrustment to the Immaculate Heart of the Mother of Our Lord."

The Holy Father, in his prayer to Mary, asked for help "in the fight against evil and in the commitment to good. Preserve us under your maternal protection, All beautiful and holy Virgin! Help us to go forward in the new millennium wrapped in that humility which made you the chosen one in the eyes of the Most High. May the fruits of this Jubilee Year not be lost! Into your hands we place the future which awaits us, invoking your constant protection on the entire world."

Following this homage to Mary, the Pope went to St. Mary Major Basilica where he presided at the celebration of the Akathistos hymn in which representatives of several Catholic Byzantine Churches participated. The hymn was sung in Greek, Paleoslavonic, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Romanian and Arabic.

At the end of the hymn's 24 verses, John Paul II delivered a brief homily. "Mother of the Risen Lord and Mother of the Church," he said, "Mary precedes us and leads us to the authentic knowledge of God and the encounter with the Redeemer. She shows us the way and shows us her Son. ... We greet her with the title 'full of grace' and we implore her intercession for all the children of the Church who, with this hymn, celebrate her glory."

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