.- The Pontifical Lateran University in Rome will host the 21st International Marian Mariological Congress from December 4-8 on the theme "Mary of Nazareth Welcomes the Son of God in History."
Presiding at the congress on the Holy Father’s behalf will be Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture.
The International Pontifical Marian Academy which organized the conference, is made up of experts, including Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants, on mariology from all over the world.
The congress will be inaugurated tomorrow at 10 a.m. in St. Mary Major Basilica with a liturgy presided by Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, archpriest. At 3:30 p.m. in the Lateran University, Bishop Rino Fisichella, the rector, and Cardinal Poupard will address participants in an opening ceremony, before five days of discussions on the theme begins.
The congress will close on Wednesday December 8 in the Vatican Basilica with a Eucharistic Celebration presided over by John Paul II on the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
