Well, Let's see if this Festival is a festival of remembrance, as the others that Radar listed, or a time to give veneration and worship:

On the Roman Catholic Church calendar of holy days, December 8th is celebrated as a holy day of obligation, commemorating the Immaculate Conception of Mary. The observance of this feast began with a Papal encyclical by Pope Pius IX, when he formally defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, INEFFABILIS DEUS, on December 8, 1854."

"To the Roman Catholic, December 8th is a significant date, not to be treated lightly. As a holy day of obligation, the Catholic is required by the first Precept of the Church to attend Mass. The days of obligation are set forth in the Vatican's Catechism in paragraph 2177.

According to the December 3rd, 1996 press release from the Vatican Information Service, the papal schedule for December 8th, 1996 included the following events:"

Homage to statue of Mary
at Rome's Spanish Square


On the afternoon of December 8, Pope John Paul II visited and paid homage to the statue of Mary located in the Spanish Square in Rome, which is pictured at left.



Following the papal encylical of Pius IX in 1854, the Column of the Immaculate Conception was erected near the Collegio Di Propaganda Fide (the Jesuit College for the propagation of the faith), at the southern end of the Piazza Di Spagna (Spanish Square). Designed by Luigi Poletti, it is an ancient Roman column topped by a statue of Mary, in honor of her Immaculate Conception.

Ever since its dedication in 1857, it is a papal tradition to visit this monument on December 8th and crown the statue of Mary with a garland of flowers, following which the faithful would then place flowers at the base of the column in homage to the immaculate, sinless Mary.

Hmmmm! Visiting a statue, crowning with a garland of "flowers; then the faithful would place flowers at the base of the column of the statue. Interesting!

Let's see what else:

"Veneration of the Salus Populi Romani.

According to the Vatican Information Service press release, the next item on the papal itinerary was a visit to St. Mary Major Basilica (Santa Maria Maggiore) to venerate the image of Mary known as the "Salus Populi Romani," which is an icon depicting Mary and the Christ child, over the altar of the Pauline Chapel (Cappella Paolina).

I hate to say this, but to venerate is to worship! There is only who is to be given reverence, and that is Jesus Christ who is God. Not a statue.

"This basilica, the Santa Maria Maggiore, originated from a dream Pope Liberius had in 356 A.D. when he was told in the dream by the Virgin Mary to build a church where he found snow. Miraculously, it is said that Liberius next saw snow in the summer, on August 5th, on Esquiline hill. The resulting church has also been known as the Liberian Basilica. One of the central images in the apse is a mosaic portraying the Coronation of the Virgin Mary as the "Queen of Heaven" by Jacopo Torriti.

In 1615, Pope Paul V had a marble column removed from the basilica of Roman emperors Maxentius and Constantine, and re-erected it in the Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore immediately south of the basilica, and topped it with a statue of the Virgin Mary and Child. To the north of the basilica, in the Piazza dell' Esquilino, is an Egyptian obelisk erected by Pope Sixtus V in 1587, which is topped with a cross.

Boy, those popes love their images, their idol's, don't they?

What else do these popes do? HMMMM?

"Ndocciata Torchlight Procession.

Following his veneration of the images of Mary, the November 27th, 1996 Vatican Information Service press release stated that the Pope would be honored with a torchlight procession, that would proceed down the Via della Conciliazione, to St. Peter's Square.

The procession was led by folk groups from the area of Molise Italy, who carried 2,000 four-meter high lit torches of fir and broomwood, called "ndocce". The purpose of the event was to honor the 50th anniversary of the Pope's priesthood. The torchlight procession, described as an "extraordinary river of fire", ended under the study window of John Paul II, who then addressed the crowd.

The VIS press release freely admitted that this "ndocciata" procession has its roots in pre-Christian (pagan) light (sun) worship. In the Molise region of Italy, this procession normally occurs on the 24th of December, in the town of Agnone to "honor" the birth of Jesus Christ. It was said by the VIS to be the largest Christmas event of its kind in Europe linked to light worship.



"In the VIS press release of Sunday, December 8th 1996, the Pope is quoted as making the following remarks to the assembled multitude in St. Peter's square following the procession-

"you, shepherds and farmers, the protagonists of such a stupendous display of faith and culture, which anticipates the joyous announcement of the birth of the Lord. Your fathers, converting to the Christian faith, have transformed the ancient pagan rite of the solstitial fire, into a festive welcoming of Jesus, Light of the world."

The Pope has admitted the Ndocciata Torchlight Procession is utterly pagan in origin, originally honoring the Winter Solstice. This is a day of great significance to the sun worshipper, because it signals the "rebirth" of the sun. (The day of the Winter Solstice has the shortest amount of daylight in the year.) The Ndocciata actually celebrates the birth of the pagan sun god, and now the Roman Church maintains it has been Christianized to celebrate the birth of the Son of God.

Is this what the Bible teaches us? Are we to adopt pagan celebrations and practices and "baptize" them? Plain and simple, this is apostasy and corruption of the highest order.[/font] It is a mixing of sun worshipping paganism into the Church, doctrinal fornication, that provokes the Lord to great anger-

Judg 2:11 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim:

Judg 2:12 And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger.

Judg 2:13 And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.

Judg 2:14 And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.


And what of Christmas itself? What is the origin of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ on December 25th? Does the Bible specify the date? Is it a Biblical festival day?"

Please read: Celebrating the Birth of the Sun

Now that we know that Catholicism openly admits to pagan practices, let see what the Bible says about these things: coming up on next post.