The Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy will last until November 20, 2016, the Feast of Christ the King. An evening Mass scheduled to start the Year of Mercy at Lancaster Cathedral, however, was cancelled due to flooding.
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The cardinal was the principal celebrant of the noon Mass at the National Shrine. About 2,500 faithful – lay and religious – attended the Mass. In the past, only senior church officials could grant forgiveness for the sin.
“The Holy Father is sending out what he calls Missionaries of Mercy: priests that will go around to preach about God’s mercy and be available for confession, especially to those that feel that “oh my sins are very grave and there is no hope for me” there is hope”, Meyer said.
Accompanying the pomp and circumstance was a gift to Francis in honor of his Holy Year of Mercy: A photo light show organized by humanitarian organizations.
Pope Francis then noted that mercy is in fact what “pleases God most” and is what is most needed by the world today, when there is “little forgiveness” in society, institutions, work and even the family.
However, in the life of Christians, this self-love is often disguised “in hypocrisy and worldliness”, he said, adding that “all these things are contrary to mercy”. He encouraged cathedrals across the globe to open their Holy Doors to pilgrims, so the faithful can take part in the pilgrimage within their own countries.
On Tuesday, Pope Francis and the Church inaugurated the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. The door was seen as a passage toward salvation and an entrance to a new path of eternal life in Christ.
Vatican City: Tens of thousands of Roman Catholics backed up for blocks at the Vatican on Tuesday for the strictest security checks in living memory as Pope Francis began a Holy Year with a call to set aside “fear and dread”. Why open a holy door? We should not be afraid: “We should allow ourselves to be embraced by the mercy of God, who waits for us and forgives everything”.
Gabrielli said the 2000 Jubilee Year figure has been used “as a benchmark for all other events and every type of demonstration”. The pope’s message of mercy, he said, was critical in a world of political squabbling, spreading global war, and “the vindictiveness found on social media”. He is the first of an estimated 10 million faithful who will pass through the doors over the course of the next year, in a rite of holy pilgrimage that dates back centuries, reported The Associated Press.
Pope Francis has officially commenced the Jubilee of Mercy, calling those who pass through the newly-opened Holy Door to rediscover God’s mercy and experience the mystery of his love.
He explained that in our age of profound changes, the Church needs the extraordinary moment offered by a Holy Year in which to offer her special contribution and make visible signs of the presence and closeness of God.
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Once the two popes had taken their steps of mercy, the first pilgrims were welcomed to walk through the doorway. “It will be necessary to accompany these celebrations with the profession of faith and with prayer for me and for the intentions that I bear in my heart for the good of the Church and of the entire world”.
