SOLEMNITY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

ACT OF VENERATION TO THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION AT THE SPANISH STEPS

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS

Monday, 8 December 2014

Mary our Mother,

Today the People of God celebrate, they venerate you, the Immaculate, ever preserved from the stain of sin.

Accept the homage I offer you in the name of the Church in Rome and throughout the world.

Knowing that you, our Mother, are totally free from sin is a consolation to us.

Knowing that evil has no power over you fills us with hope and strength in our daily struggle against the threat of the evil one.

But in this struggle we are not alone, we are not orphans, for Jesus, before dying on the Cross, gave you to us as our Mother.

Though we are sinners, we are still your children, the children of the Immaculate, called to that holiness that has shown resplendent in you by the grace of God from the beginning.

Inspired by this hope, today we invoke your motherly protection for us, our families, this city and the world.

Through your intercession, may the power of God’s love that preserved you from original sin, free humanity from every form of spiritual and material slavery and make God’s plan of salvation victorious in hearts and in history.

May grace prevail over pride in us, too, your children.

May we become merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful.

In this time leading up to the celebration of Jesus’ birth, teach us to go against the current: to strip ourselves, to be humble, and giving, to listen and be silent, to go out of ourselves, granting space to the beauty of God, the source of true joy.

Pray for us, our Immaculate Mother!