Overview
- He laid a bouquet of white roses and prayed at the Immaculate Conception monument near the Plaza de España on December 8, continuing a papal tradition dating to 1857.
- Invoking the Jubilee, he appealed for education in nonviolence and the art of reconciliation, asking that homes become “oases of peace.”
- It was his first visit to the statue since becoming pope, drawing hundreds who watched him arrive in the popemobile and greet Rome’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri.
- Before the ceremony, he visited the nearby Church of the Most Holy Trinity and received an honor from the Via Condotti merchants’ association.
- He set Christmas Eve Mass for 10 p.m. in his first Christmas as pope, noted the Holy Year’s Jan. 6 close, and signaled plans for a Jubilee in 2033.