The time of this project coincided with a large Marian trend: in 1661, Pope Alexander VII declared the ImmaculateConception (though it didn't become a dogma of the church until 1854).
This year, the unions and business association chose to move the holiday on Dec. 6 celebrating the approval of the country's constitution following a four-decade dictatorship to a Monday rather than risk angering the church again by shifting the public holiday on Dec. 8, the Feast of the ImmaculateConception.