VATICAN CORNER
con!nued… The ini!al rite of the Jubilee of Mercy is the opening of the Holy Door. This door is only opened during a Holy Year, and is otherwise closed. Tradi!onally only the four major basilicas of Rome have a Holy Door: St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major and St. Paul Outside the Walls. On December 8, 2015 In St. Peter’s square, 50,000 people a+ended Mass, including thousands of Catholic pilgrims and hundreds of cardinals, bishops and members of religious orders. They saw Pope Francis push open the Holy Door at St. Peter’s. There was extremely !ght security at this event in the wake of recent terrorist a+acks around the world. Pope Francis later went on to open the other three basilicas’ Holy Doors in Rome. At St. Peter’s the Door has sixteen bronze panels depic!ng the history of salva!on. They show the exile of Adam and Eve’s from the Garden of Eden, the Archangel Gabriel asking Mary to be the Mother of Jesus, gospel stories of the mercy and forgiveness of God, and the Easter mystery and the birth of the Church. The last panel shows the Holy Father standing and knocking on that very same Holy Door. The bronze scenes are intended to remind Chris!ans that they are to enter the mystery of salva!on and to pass from sin to grace, from separa!on to union with God, and from death to eternal life. This rite of the opening of the Holy Door illustrates symbolically the idea that, during the Jubilee, the faithful are offered an “extraordinary pathway” towards salva!on. Christ iden!fied Himself as “the door.” He said that no one can come to the Father except through Him. A major aspect of a Holy Year has historically been the pilgrimage of the faithful to Rome to make repara!on for sin, to renew their faith and to perform the symbolic act of passing through the Holy Door. For this year’s Jubilee, Pilgrims wan!ng to par!cipate in the Major Events at the Va!can and to pass through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica are required to register on the Church’s web site: www.im.va. Once completed, a reserva!on can be arranged.
There are 8 major events planned at the Va!can where the greatest number of par!cipants is expected. There are Jubilees for: Divine Mercy, Deacons, Priests, Sick/ Disabled, Workers & Volunteers of Mercy, Catechists, and Marian.
However, Pope Francis has rewri+en the church rules regarding holy doors and said that every Catholic cathedral in the world may designate a holy door to be opened for the year, so that those who cannot come to Rome can s!ll par!cipate in the church’s Jubilee Year of Mercy by walking through the doors. At St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis announced: “We have opened the Holy Door, here and in all the cathedrals of the world.” A&er opening the massive bronze doors and pausing to pray silently on their threshold, he called the symbolic gesture “an invita!on to joy.” To be con!nued …
Sources: catholicstraightanswers.com, CNN.com, telegraph.co.uk, news.va