A Jubilee for a World in Need of Mercy

Amid heightened security following recent terror attacks around the world, the Vatican said 70,000 pilgrims had packed into St Peter’s square and surrounding streets to watch Francis open the usually bricked-up wall in the facade of the renaissance basilica.

In a letter last September to the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, the Holy Father declared that an indulgence would be granted to the faithful who “make a brief pilgrimage to the Holy Door, open in every cathedral or in the churches designated by the diocesan bishop”.

The Holy Door is a special door in Catholic tradition symbolizing spiritual renewal and the passage from sin to grace.

“The Jubilee is an opportune time for all of us so that, contemplating the divine mercy that overcomes every human limit and shines over the darkness of sin, we can become more convincing and efficacious witnesses”, he continued.

Unlike in Martin Luther’s time, these Holy Year indulgences are free and available to those who pass through the Holy Door.

“If you want to be part of that (salvation) story, your role in that story is to participate in it, to recognize your own brokenness and need for God’s mercy, and also to reach out mercifully to others”, he said. “God’s joy is forgiving; God’s being is mercy”.

On Tuesday, Pope Francis and the Church inaugurated the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.

During this holy year, as we previously reported, Francis has said that priests will be allowed to forgive women who have had abortions.

“Some people might make a pilgrimage to Rome”. However, this yearlong celebration of mercy does not sit on the same interval, with the last Holy Year celebrated in 2000 to usher in the new millennium. “By crossing the threshold of the Holy Door, we will find the strength to embrace God’s mercy and dedicate ourselves to being merciful with others, as the Father has been with us”, the pope said.

Pope Francis was launching his Holy Year of Mercy, declaring that mercy trumps moralising in his Catholic Church. The Year of Mercy concludes in November 2017 with the Feast of Christ the King.

Persons with disabilities and representatives of poor communities accompanied the cardinal during the ceremonial opening of the Holy Door. That will happen on Sunday, when Francis himself opens the door at one of Rome’s major churches, St John Lateran. An evening Mass scheduled to start the Year of Mercy at Lancaster Cathedral, however, was cancelled due to flooding.

“This year we have a mission”, said the cardinal.

The reason for the Jubilee, he said in short, is “because this is the time for mercy, … the favorable time to heal wounds, a time not to be tired of meeting all those who are waiting to see and to touch with their hands the signs of the closeness of God, a time to offer everyone the way of forgiveness and reconciliation”.

An estimated 10 million faithful are expected to follow in Francis’s steps over the next year, symbolizing the path of sacrifices endured over one’s life, the Associated Press reported.