VATICAN: POPE MESSAGE FOR FEAST OF IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

Pope Benedict XVI says Immaculate Conception a source of comfort



Pope Benedict XVI marked the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary by reciting the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square. The Holy Father said the mystery of the dogma proclaimed by Pius IX in 1854, is "a source of inner light, of hope and comfort" . In the midst of life's trials and contradictions, which man experiences within himself and around him, Mary, Mother of Christ, tells us that grace is greater than sin, that God's mercy is more powerful than evil, and knows how to turn it into good.

At the root of all evil, the Pope said, is disobedience to God's will on the part of human freedom, which has succumbed to the temptation of the devil. And now the evil has its root in the human heart, a heart sick and wounded, unable to heal itself. He said God has prepared a new and everlasting covenant, sealed by the blood of his Son who, to offer himself in atonement, was “born of a woman.” This woman, the Virgin Mary, benefited in advance from the redeeming death of her Son for she was preserved from the contagion of guilt since conception.

The Pope said Mary helps us above all to have faith in God, to believe in his word, always to reject evil and choose good.

SOURCE RADIO VATICANA

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