Vatican City, Dec 8, 2011 / 12:15 pm
The Church's nature and destiny are revealed in the Virgin Mary's perfect holiness, Pope Benedict XVI taught on the Dec. 8 Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
“In her sinless perfection, Mary is a great sign of hope for the Church and for the world, a sign of the marvels that God's grace can accomplish in us, his human creatures,” the Pope said in his remarks at the midday Angelus in St. Peter's Square.
Christ's mother, he explained, received the fullest possible measure of the same grace given to believers through the sacraments of the Church.
“The expression 'full of grace' indicates the marvelous work of God, who wanted to give us back the life and liberty, lost by sin, through his only begotten Son,” said the Pope, reflecting on the Archangel Gabriel's greeting to Mary.