Pope won't go to Piazza di Spagna Dec 8

(ANSA) - VATICAN CITY, 30 NOV - Pope Francis will not go to Piazza di Spagna to bless a statue of the Madonna as he traditionally does on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8 because of COVID social gathering fears this year, the head of the Vatican Press Office, Matteo Bruni, said Monday.
    Instead, Bruni said, the pope will carry out an act of private devotion on that day.
    He will entrust to the Madonna the city of Rome, its inhabitants and the world's sick, Bruni said.
    Bruni said the decision not to go to the iconic Roman piazza "is due to the ongoing situation of health emergency and in order to avoid all risk of contagion provoked by gatherings". (ANSA).