Zenit News Agency, Italy
Dec 9 2004
On Solemnity of Immaculate Conception
“Beacon of Light for Humanity for All Times,” Says John Paul II
VATICAN CITY, DEC. 8, 2004 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the
address John Paul II delivered today, the solemnity of the Immaculate
Conception, before praying the midday Angelus with several thousand
pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
* * *
1. “Tota pulchra es, Maria!”
One hundred and fifty years ago, on December 8, 1854, Blessed Pius IX
proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Holy
Virgin.
The privilege of being preserved from original sin means that she is
the first redeemed by her Son. Her sublime beauty, a reflection of
that of Christ, is pledge for all believers of the victory of the
divine grace over sin and death.
2. The Immaculate Conception appears as a beacon of light for
humanity for all times. At the beginning of the third millennium, she
leads us to believe and hope in God, in his salvation, and in eternal
life. She illuminates particularly the path of the Church engaged in
the New Evangelization.
3. This afternoon, during the traditional homage to the Virgin in
Piazza di Spagna, I will entrust the city of Rome and the entire
world to her, Immaculate Mother of the Word-made-Man. We now appeal
to her powerful intercession, reciting the Angelus with filial
confidence.
[After praying the Angelus, the Pope said the following:]
Yesterday afternoon, in Mosul, in Iraq, a Catholic-Armenian church
and the Chaldean bishop’s palace were destroyed. I express my
spiritual closeness to the faithful, shaken by the attack, and
implore the Lord, through the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin,
that the beloved Iraqi people may at last know a time of
reconciliation and peace.
I greet the pilgrims present, in particular the representatives of
the Pontifical Academy of the Immaculate, headed by the Lord Cardinal
Andrzej Maria Deskur. Beloved: on this day of celebration I am
particularly close to you. I pray for you and encourage you to
persevere in your devotion to Mary Immaculate.
May the Virgin obtain for all the graces desired.