Rome - Palazzo di Propaganda Fide

Diagonally opposite the Palazzo di Spagna, now the Spanish Embassy to the Holy See, is the Palazzo di Propaganda Fide built for Popes Gregory XV and Urban VIII by Bernini and Borromini. This is the headquarters of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, an organization established in the 16th century to promote the missionary activities of the Church. In front of the two palaces is an ancient column bearing a figure of the Virgin, the Column of the Immaculate Conception, around the base of which are the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, together with Moses and David. Every year on December eighth the Pope comes to the column to commemorate the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854.