Pope asks Mary Immaculate to watch over Rome

Pope Francis made a surprise visit to the statue of the Immaculate Conception in Rome’s Piazza di Spagna on December 8, 2020. “At 7 a.m. this morning, on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Father went to the Spanish Steps for an act of veneration in private to Mary Immaculate,” the press office said. 

“At the first light of dawn, in the rain, he laid a bouquet of white roses at the base of the column where the statue of Our Lady stands and he turned to her in prayer, so that she might watch over Rome and its inhabitants with love, entrusting to her all those in this city and in the world who are afflicted by sickness and discouragement.”

Then the pope left the Spanish Steps and traveled to the Basilica of St Mary Major, where he prayed before the icon of Salus Populi Romani, Mary Protection of the Roman People. Since 1953, it has been a custom for popes to venerate the statue on December 8th. Pope Pius XII was the first to do so, walking nearly two miles from the Vatican.

Adapted from Catholic News Agency