Madrid, Spain, May 19, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Cardinal Carlos Amigo Vallejo, Archbishop of Seville, Spain, said this week that the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of the Immaculate Conception of Mary provides an excellent opportunity to refocus on the Incarnation of Christ, in the midst of increasing secularization which seeks to exclude religion.
Cardinal Vallejo underscored the importance of this dogma “when a radical, and sometimes exasperated, secularism seeks to erase all signs of religion in the life of a society and a culture.”
In this context, he added, “it is very important to show what the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word has meant for history. In this mystery the person of Mary Immaculate is essential.”
The Cardinal made his comments during the inauguration of the 15th Symposium on the History of the Church in Spain and America, which this year is focusing on the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The meeting is being organized by the Academy for Ecclesiastical History of Seville.