Pope venerates Our Lady on Feast of Immaculate Conception

Source: Vatican Media

Pope Francis visited the Piazza di Spagna in Rome on Saturday for the annual act of veneration of Our Lady, praying before the icon on Maria Salus Populi Romani in the Basilica of St Mary Major and under the statue of Mary Immaculate in Piazza di Spagna.

An English translation the Holy Father's prayer at Piazza di Spagna follows:

Immaculate Mother,on your feast day, so dear to all Christian people,
I come to pay homage to you in the heart of Rome.
In my own soul, I bear the faithful of this Church,
and everyone who lives in this city, especially the sick,
and all those who, because of their different situations, find it difficult to keep going.

First and foremost, we want to thank you
for the motherly care with which you accompany our journey:
how often do we hear, with tears in our eyes,
from those who have experienced your intercession,
about the graces you ask for us from your Son Jesus!

I think also of the simple grace you give people who live in Rome:
that of facing the challenges of everyday life with patience.

And for this reason we ask you for the strength not to resign ourselves, but rather,
that every day, each person may do their bit to improve things,
so that the care shown by each person may make Rome more beautiful and livable for all;
so that the duty each person performs, might guarantee the rights of all.

And thinking about the common good of this city,
we pray to you for those who hold positions of greater responsibility:
obtain for them wisdom, vision, a spirit of service and collaboration.

Blessed Virgin,
I wish to entrust you, in a special way, the priests of this Diocese:
pastors, assistance pastors, elderly priests, who with a pastor's heart,
continue to work in the service of God's people,
the many student priests from all over the world who collaborate in the parishes.

For all of them, I ask you the tender joy of evangelizing,
and the gift of being fathers, close to the people, merciful.
To you, a Woman totally consecrated to God, I entrust consecrated lay women and women religious.
Thank God there are many of them in Rome, more than in any other city in the world,
and they form a wonderful mosaic of nationalities and cultures.

For them I ask you the joy of being, like you, spouses and mothers,
fruitful in prayer, charity and compassion.

O Mother of Jesus,
I ask you one last thing at this time of Advent,
thinking of the days when you and Joseph were worried
about the already imminent birth of your child,
concerned because there was a census underway and you too had to leave your hometown of Nazareth and go to Bethlehem...
You know what it means to carry life in your womb
and to feel indifference, rejection, even contempt, around you.

That's why I ask you to be close to families who today
in Rome, in Italy, and throughout the world experience similar situations,
may they not be abandoned, but may their rights be protected,
human rights that have priority over any necessity, however legitimate.

O Mary Immaculate,dawn of hope on the horizon of humanity,
watch over this city:its houses, schools, offices, shops,
its factories, hospitals, and prisons.

May that which Rome holds most precious,
that which she preserves for the whole world,
never be lacking anywhere: the last testament of Jesus:
"Love one another, as I have loved you" (Jn 13:34).