Palma welcomes holiday measure for Immaculate Conception

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma is overwhelmed by the recent approval on third and final reading of House Bill 5241 declaring December 8 of every year a special non-working holiday in the entire country to commemorate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary.

"I am happy for such a recognition of the importance of the feast in our country," said Palma.

The bill was authored by House Majority leader and Ilocos Norte First District Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas. It was endorsed for plenary approval by the committee on revision of laws chaired by Rep. Marlyn L. Primicias-Agabas (6th District of Pangasinan).

Fariñas said the titles under which Mary is venerated in the country, the Immaculate Conception, is one of the most prominent and highly observed feasts of the Catholic Church.

Fariñas said the country is predominantly Catholic and is in fact the third largest Catholic country in the world, citing about 76 million Filipinos who are Catholics.

 On September 12, 1942, Fariñas said Pope Pius XII, through the Apostolic letter Impositi Nobis, declared the Virgin Mary, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, as the Principal Patroness of the Philippines.

The lawmaker said the invocation of the Immaculate Conception dates back to February 8, 1578. Pope Gregory XIII, in a Bull, issued a decree that the Manila Cathedral should be erected under the invocation of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Fariñas added that  December 8 was declared a holy day of obligation by Pope Clement XI in 1708 for Catholics all over the world, in honor of the holiness and purity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

According to Fariñas, the Catholic Church has continuously propagated the doctrine concerning the original innocence of the undefiled Blessed Virgin Mary and by this most significant fact, the Church declared that the conception of Mary must be venerated as extraordinary, wonderful, eminently holy, and different from the conception of all other human beings.

“Hence, the Church requires public devotion and veneration of the faithful during the Feast of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In fact, in some countries such as Guam and Malta, Catholics take the day off from work and school to observe said feast,”  Fariñas further said. (FREEMAN)