World celebrates doctrine of the Immaculate Conception

The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception will be 150 years old tomorrow. At the Sunday Angelus prayer the Pope spoke about the forthcoming feast, saying: "We are preparing to celebrate with intimate joy the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary's Immaculate Conception, which assumes special significance this year when we commemorate the 150th anniversary of the definition of this important Marian Dogma." Tomorrow morning the Pope will preside Mass in St Peter's. In the afternoon he will go to Piazza di Spagna to place flowers at the foot of the famous statue of Immaculate Mary. Fides News Service has dedicated a new section of its website to the anniversary at: www.fides.org. It includes testimony and reflections from the most famous Marian Shrines - among them Lourdes, Loreto, Pompei, Czestochowa and Guadalupe; a dossier on the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception and reports from around the world on celebrations marking this special Feast.