VATICAN CITY, 8 DEC 2008 (VIS) - Early this afternoon, the Holy Father travelled to Rome's Piazza di Spagna to pay his traditional homage at the statue of Mary Immaculate.
Before arriving in the square, the Holy Father stopped briefly at the Church of the Most Holy Trinity to greet the Dominican Friars and the members of the Via Condotti Storeowners Association. Once in the square, in the presence of thousands of faithful, he blessed a basket of roses which was placed at the foot of the column bearing Mary's statue.
Benedict XVI spoke of his visit three months ago to the French shrine of Lourdes for the 150th anniversary of the apparition of the Virgin to Bernadette Soubirous, the celebrations of which have lasted throughout 2008 and come to an end today. "Belief in Mary's Immaculate Conception existed many centuries before the Lourdes apparitions", he said, "but those apparitions came by way of a divine seal after my venerated predecessor Blessed Pius IX defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception on 8 December 1854".
In Mary, he went on, we recognise "the 'smile of God', the immaculate reflection of the divine light, in her we find new hope amidst the problems and dramas of the world". Commenting then on the offer of roses to the Virgin, he said "all roses have their thorns ... which for us represent the difficulties, sufferings and evils that have marked and continue to mark the lives of individuals and of our communities. To a mother we present our joys but we also entrust our concerns, certain of finding in her the comfort not to lose heart and the support to continue our journey".
The Pope then entrusted to Mary "the 'smallest' of our city: first and foremost children, especially those who are seriously ill, the disadvantaged and those suffering the consequences of difficult family situations", also "the elderly who are alone, ... immigrants struggling to adjust, families striving to make ends meet, and those who cannot find or have lost employment".
He continued: "Mary, teach us to show solidarity towards those in difficulty, to bridge the ever-increasing social disparities; help us to cultivate a more lively sense of the common good, of respect for the common weal, ... and to make our contribution for a more just and united society".
"Your beauty", Pope Benedict went on, "ensures us that the victory of love is possible, indeed that it is certain. It assures us that grace is stronger than sin and that hence redemption from any form of slavery is possible. Mary, you help us to believe in goodness more trustingly; you encourage us to remain vigilant and not to give in to the temptation of facile forms of evasion, to face reality ... with courage and responsibility".
"Be a loving mother to our young people, that they may have the courage to be 'sentinels of the morrow'", the Pope concluded, "and give this virtue to all Christians that they may become the soul of the world at this difficult moment of history".
AC/IMMACULATE CONCEPTION/PIAZZA DI SPAGNA VIS 20081209 (530)
Before arriving in the square, the Holy Father stopped briefly at the Church of the Most Holy Trinity to greet the Dominican Friars and the members of the Via Condotti Storeowners Association. Once in the square, in the presence of thousands of faithful, he blessed a basket of roses which was placed at the foot of the column bearing Mary's statue.
Benedict XVI spoke of his visit three months ago to the French shrine of Lourdes for the 150th anniversary of the apparition of the Virgin to Bernadette Soubirous, the celebrations of which have lasted throughout 2008 and come to an end today. "Belief in Mary's Immaculate Conception existed many centuries before the Lourdes apparitions", he said, "but those apparitions came by way of a divine seal after my venerated predecessor Blessed Pius IX defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception on 8 December 1854".
In Mary, he went on, we recognise "the 'smile of God', the immaculate reflection of the divine light, in her we find new hope amidst the problems and dramas of the world". Commenting then on the offer of roses to the Virgin, he said "all roses have their thorns ... which for us represent the difficulties, sufferings and evils that have marked and continue to mark the lives of individuals and of our communities. To a mother we present our joys but we also entrust our concerns, certain of finding in her the comfort not to lose heart and the support to continue our journey".
The Pope then entrusted to Mary "the 'smallest' of our city: first and foremost children, especially those who are seriously ill, the disadvantaged and those suffering the consequences of difficult family situations", also "the elderly who are alone, ... immigrants struggling to adjust, families striving to make ends meet, and those who cannot find or have lost employment".
He continued: "Mary, teach us to show solidarity towards those in difficulty, to bridge the ever-increasing social disparities; help us to cultivate a more lively sense of the common good, of respect for the common weal, ... and to make our contribution for a more just and united society".
"Your beauty", Pope Benedict went on, "ensures us that the victory of love is possible, indeed that it is certain. It assures us that grace is stronger than sin and that hence redemption from any form of slavery is possible. Mary, you help us to believe in goodness more trustingly; you encourage us to remain vigilant and not to give in to the temptation of facile forms of evasion, to face reality ... with courage and responsibility".
"Be a loving mother to our young people, that they may have the courage to be 'sentinels of the morrow'", the Pope concluded, "and give this virtue to all Christians that they may become the soul of the world at this difficult moment of history".
AC/IMMACULATE CONCEPTION/PIAZZA DI SPAGNA VIS 20081209 (530)
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