WATCH: Pope Francis pays homage to Our Lady

VATICAN CITY — Today Pope Francis travelled to Rome’s Piazza di Spagna for the traditional papal act of veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

Laying a wreath of flowers before the state of Our Lady which over looks the famous square, the pope, accompanied by several Vatican officials and Rome’s newly elected mayor, 38-year-old Virginia Raggio, entrusted the City of Rome and the world to the protection of Mary Immaculate.

Before returning to the Vatican, the pope also stopped at the Basilica of St. Mary  to pray before the image of the Salus Populi Romani.