Overview
- Toledo renewed its uninterrupted 1617 municipal pledge to defend the Immaculate Conception, with Mayor Carlos Velázquez reading the original vow during a packed ceremony.
- The procession in Toledo featured a dramatization of the 1585 Milagro de Empel and, for the first time, a musical tribute by the Tuna Universitaria de Toledo.
- Across the Diocese of Jujuy, parishes held novenas, a pilgrim Mass, a central liturgy with procession, First Communions, and a children’s Jubilee with consagrations at the Río Blanco sanctuary.
- December 8 is an immovable national holiday in several countries, including Spain, Argentina, Chile, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Portugal, with many families traditionally assembling the Christmas tree on this date.
- The feast’s doctrinal basis was defined by Pope Pius IX in 1854, building on centuries of devotion that Spain vigorously promoted in the 17th century through royal initiatives and diplomatic campaigns.