Immaculate Conception inspires confidence, hope, Pope says

December 09, 2010

Pope Benedict XVI traveled across Rome to place a bouquet at the foot of a statue of the Virgin Mary, fulfilling an annual tradition, on December 8: the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

“Mary tells us that we are all called to open ourselves to the action of the Holy Spirit in order to achieve, as our ultimate destiny, the immaculate state, fully and definitively free from evil,” the Pope told the crowd gathered at the statue, at the foot of the Spanish Steps.

The statue—erected in honor of the dogmatic declaration of the Immaculate Conception—is a reminder to the people of Rome to listen to the message of the Virgin, the Pope said.

Earlier in the day, at his Angelus audience, the Pope had said that the Immaculate Conception inspires the faithful, offering “a source of inner light, of hope and comfort,” providing assurance that with God’s help we can be freed from sin, and that “God’s mercy is more powerful than evil, and can transform evil into good.”

 

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Further information:

• Pope Benedict XVI says Immaculate Conception a source of comfort (Vatican Radio)
• The Immaculate Conception and the Power of Divine Grace (VIS)
• Mary's Message: Openness to the Action of the Holy Spirit (VIS)