On 8 December, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the Holy Father celebrated Mass in Rome's St.Mary Major Basilica for the liturgical ceremony marking the official publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. joining him at the altar were the Cardinals and Bishops who had served on the Editorial Commission and Committee during the six years it took to prepare the work. During the liturgy the Pope preached the homily in Italian as follows:

1. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ"(Eph 1:3).

Today the Church offers thanks to God for "every spiritual blessing" with which he has blessed the whole human race in Christ.

The Church offers thanks, in a particular manner, for the blessing of the Immaculate Conception of Mary of Nazareth: Mary is "full of grace" from the first moment of her conception, having never been touched in any way by original sin. We offer thanks to the Blessed Trinity because, in the eternal plan of salvation, Mary has become the "new Eve", the Mother of all the living, that is the Mother of all those who, in Christ Jesus, become holy and immaculate in God's sight.

Mary is the first among the living. Chosen to be the Mother of the Redeemer of the world, the Virgin of Nazareth received the fruits of the redemption in advance, from her mother's womb.

2. Today the Church pauses once again to reflect on the event of the annunciation as narrated by the evangelist Luke. In it is revealed the mystery of the Incarnate Word, consubstantial with the Father. By the power of the Holy Spirit the eternal Son of God becomes the Son of Man, conceived and born of a virgin named Mary.The liturgy has us read this text of Luke frequently, so much so that we almost know it by memory. However, despite this, it unfolds in ever new ways the depth of its revealed content.

Mary is the Virgin who asks. She asks in order to be able to understand and accept the Word of God in all its fullness. She asks in order to make what she hears the truth of her vocation, so that it may become her choice at present and for the rest of her life.

Mary asks because she is humble: She suddenly finds herself faced with the infinite majesty of the Most High, the thrice holy one, and therefore she asks in order to know entirely the will of God, thus seeking to understand herself, to understand herself in the word addressed to her by the divine messenger.

Mary is obedient: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word" (Lk 1:38). "Blessed are you who believed" (Lk 1:45). Through the obedience of faith, a hidden, unknown Virgin of Nazareth totally accepts the plan of salvation and thus begins to go before all those who, setting off on the same journey of faith, become adoptive children of the Father in Christ.

3. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ".

Together with the Mother of God, the Church today offers thanks for the gift of the Council which was opened on 11 October 30 years ago, precisely on the feast of Mary's maternity.

The community of believers today offers thanks for the post-conciliar catechism which is a compendium of the truth proclaimed by the Church throughout the world. This compendium of the Catholic faith, requested by the Bishops gathered in the Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod in 1985, is the most mature and complete fruit of the Council's teaching and presents it in the rich framework of the whole of ecclesial tradition.

As she did on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception in 1965 when the Council assembly was solemnly closed, the Church today too presents herself in the sight of the Blessed Trinity, entrusting to the Spirit of Truth the Council's Magisterium. On the same day and on the same feast, the Church, therefore, presents herself to the men and women of our day with the post-conciliar catechism, a compendium of the one and enduring apostolic faith which the Church has guarded and taught through centuries and millennia.

4. "Blessed by the God...".

O Mary, you who in the eternal plan of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, were chosen to become the Mother of the Word - you who on Pentecost were present as Mother of the Church (cf. Acts 1:14) - accept this fruit of the work of the whole Church. Those who carried on this highly meritorious work under the diligent and tireless presidency of the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith are all here, at your feet.

Together we all place the new Catechism of the Catholic Church - which is, at the same time, the gift of the revealed Word to humanity and the fruit of the work of Bishops and theologians - together we all place it in the hands of her who, as Mother of the Word, took into her arms the First-born of all creatures.

O Mary, Jesus, the Word made flesh through your obedience of faith, became the firstborn among many brothers (Rom 8:29).

Blessed Virgin, in this world in which the inheritance of the sin of the first Adam is still present - causing people to hide from the face of God and even to refuse to look at him - we pray that the way may be opened to the Word, the incarnate Word, to the Gospel of the Son of man, your beloved Son.

For the people of our age, so progressive and so troubled, for the people of every civilization and language, of every culture and race, we ask, O Mary, for the grace of a sincere openness of spirit and an attentive listening to the Word of God.

We ask you, O Mother of mankind, for the grace that every human being may be able to accept with gratitude the gift of adoption which the Father freely offers to everyone in his divine Son. We ask you, O Mother of hope, we ask you for the grace of the obedience of faith, the only true anchor of salvation.

We ask you, faithful Virgin, that you who go before believers in the pilgrimage of faith here on earth, may protect the journey of those who seek to accept and follow Christ, he who is, who was and who is coming (cf Rv 1:8), he who is the Way, the Truth and the Life (cfjn 14:6).

Help us, O clement, O loving, O sweet Mother of God, O Mary.Amen.