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.