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Pope Francis celebrated the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception with the news cardinals in St. Peter's Basilica, calling Christians to imitate Mary.
"The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin."
Pope Francis marked the Immaculate Conception by visiting to two of Rome's most important Marian sites, followed by an unexpected stop.
The Vatican said that certain feast days are established by canon law as days of obligation. These “must be observed” and “the canon does not provide exceptions.”
The event was inspired by a 9-year-old boy named Alessandro, who proposed the idea to the pope to have an international event for younger children.
The banner’s declaration recalls the Marian spirituality of St. Maximilian Kolbe, who had a special devotion to the Immaculate Conception.
Pope Francis prayed in front of a statue of the Immaculate Conception near Rome’s Spanish Steps, which sits atop a nearly 40-foot-high column.
On Dec. 8, the day the Church celebrates the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, thousands of women in different countries around the world gathered to pray the holy rosary for peace and for the defense of life.
On Thursday, Pope Francis publicly visited the statue dedicated to the Immaculate Conception near Rome’s Piazza di Spagna for the first time in two years.
The Archbishop of Cameroon’s Archdiocese of Bamenda has called for prayers for peace in the Central African nation through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of peace.
The pope leads the Angelus prayer on Marian solemnities, as well as Sundays.
Last year, the pope made a surprise visit to pray alone at the Immaculate Conception statue.
The Immaculate Conception is “one of the wonders of the story of salvation,” Pope Francis said in his Angelus address Tuesday.
During the concluding Mass of the Annual National Pilgrimage in the Central African Republic (CAR) Saturday, December 7, the Archbishop of Bangui, Dieudonné Cardinal Nzapalainga called on the congregation of close to 25,000 pilgrims to make every effort to care for creation and have a sense of responsibility in the example of Mary.
For the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, Pope Francis Sunday venerated a statue of the Virgin Mary located in Rome’s Piazza di Spagna, reciting a prayer he wrote for the occasion.
With Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception, God was, even before Mary’s birth, putting into motion his plan of salvation for the world, Pope Francis said Sunday.