Armenian Catholic Churches celebrated the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary with special prayers and rituals on Thursday, December 9, in the second week of the Christmas period.
The feast based on the Dogma of Immaculate Conception, which is among the creeds of the Catholic Church and interpreted as the expression that the Virgin Mary was free from original sin from the moment she was conceived, was also celebrated in the Vatican, the Pontifical Center; with a ceremony attended by Pope Francis.
Archbishop Levon Zekiyan, Archpriest Abraham Fırat, Archdiakon Der Hagop Minasyan, Gisasargavak Jan Acemoğlu and readers accompanied the ceremony held at the Samatya Anarat Hığutyun Armenian Catholic Church. In this special service, Surp Hovhan Vosgeperan Choir sang chants under the direction of Conductor Zaven Agay.
The Dogma of Immaculate Conception, which was formalized with the circular called “Ineffabilis Deus” published by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1854, and placed among the Catholic faith principles, is based on the thesis that the belief that all people on earth were born with traces of the original sin committed by Adam cannot be valid for the Virgin Mary.
