” “The appellation of "God’s Mother", explained the Pope, "led to all the other qualifications with which the Church honours the Virgin": first and foremost, the "privilege" of the "Immaculate Conception", whereby Mary is "immune from sin since conception" and "was preserved from any stain of sin, because she had to be the Mother of the Redeemer". "Even the unique, unrepeatable place which Mary has in the Community of believers commented the Holy Father derives from her fundamental calling to be the Mother of the Redeemer" and the "Mother of the Church": an appellation, this one, that Paul VI "rightly" gave Mary during the Second Vatican Council, on 21st November 1964. "Just because she is the Mother of the Church, the Virgin is also the Mother of each one of us, who are the limbs of the mystical Body of Christ", went on Benedict XVI: "At the supreme moment of the accomplishment of the messianic mission, Jesus leaves to every one of His disciples, as a precious legacy, His own Mother, the Virgin". Hence the Pope’s wish for 2008: "That the new year, which began under the sign of the Virgin said the Pope , may make us feel her motherly presence more deeply, so that, supported and comforted by the protection of the Virgin, we may contemplate with new eyes the face of her Son, Jesus, and more quickly walk along the ways of the good. Happy New Year, everybody!".” “
