Detailed plans for opening of Jubilee year

December 04, 2015

Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the president of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, outlined plans for the opening of the Jubilee Year of Mercy at a press conference in Rome on December 4.

The ceremony inauguration of the Jubilee, with the opening of the Holy Door in the Vatican basilica, will take place on Tuesday morning, December 8: the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Pope Francis will lead the way through the Holy Door, followed in procession by priests, religious, and laity, to the tomb of St. Peter.

The opening ceremony will begin in St. Peter’s Square, with readings from four documents of the Second Vatican Council: Dei Verbum, Lumen Gentium, Sacrosanctum Concilium, and Gaudium et Spes. Archbishop Fisichella reminded reporters that the Jubilee Year coincides with the 50th anniversary of the conclusion of Vatican II.

On Sunday, December 13, the Pope will open the Holy Door at the basilica of St. John Lateran, the cathedral of the Rome diocese. On that same day, Holy Doors will be opened in cathedrals of dioceses all around the world. Every day during the Year of Mercy, the Rosary will be recited in St. Peter’s Square.

To accommodate pilgrims during the Jubilee, the Vatican has established a reception center on the Via della Conciliazione, which will provide information and tickets to all public events. Information will be available in ten different languages.

Vatican organizers of the Jubilee have recruited hundreds of volunteers to assist visitors during the Year of Mercy. For special events, Archbishop Fisichella said, as many as 1,000 volunteers will be on hand around St. Peter’s Square.

Detailed information about Vatican plans for the Jubilee is available on a dedicated web site—http://www.im.va—with translations in seven languages.

 

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Further information:

• The Jubilee of Mercy is at hand (VIS)
• Jubilee Year web site