In Brief
Threat of attacks
In its edition of December 14, La Repubblica revealed that the Italian police force will be lending its support to reinforce security measures inside the Vatican over Christmas, acting on information received from Mossad, the Israeli information service, specifying an "attack by Al Qaida cells against a place symbolic of Christianity". Several measures have been taken at St. Peters Basilica and at the Vatican. From Monday December 15, la via della Concilazione, which links the Tyber to St. Peters Square, will be closed between midnight and 7:00 am. until the end of the New Year celebrations. Surveillance has been stepped up in the Square and at the entrance to the basilica.
Similar measures have been taken at St. Marks Basilica in Venice, at Santa Maria Novella in Florence and at Milan Cathedral. Vigilance has been stepped up, not only in places of worship, but also in commercial centers and at airports and railway stations.
John Paul II pays hommage to the Virgin Mary on the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception
On December 8, the pope consecrated the prayer of the Angelus, to the Mother of God, in front of a crowd of several thousand assembled in St. Peters Square in Rome: "Mary is our unwavering support in the difficult battle against sin and its consequences". He announced that he would be going, as every year to Spanish Place, in the center of Rome that afternoon, to pay hommage to the Immaculate Virgin, whose image, erected there by Pius IX, stands on a column.
The pope said that this short ceremony would take the Church into the 150th year of the proclamation of the Immaculate Conception by the Roman Magisterium, December 8 1854 the 150th anniversary of this proclamation of the Immaculate Conception, will be the theme of the pilgrimage of Pentecost 2004, from Chartres to Montmartre.
