Preparations for next year’s Jubilee in Rome are frantically gearing for a humungous rush to finish in time. The once-every-quarter-century event is likely to bring about 32 million pilgrims to Rome Last Thursday at St Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis presided over a ceremony where the papal bull, or official edict, for the Jubilee was read. Read more
When he announced the Jubilee of Mercy Pope Francis said that a Door of Mercy should be opened in every diocese. In the Diocese of Gizo in the Solomon Islands the isolation and remoteness of parishes from the diocesan centre makes it virtually impossible for the people living in the villages to come to the Read more
The rate of people attending Confession in England and Wales has increased “dramatically” during the Year of Mercy, Cardinal Vincent Nichols has said. Speaking during a press conference last week, the cardinal said: “Diocese by diocese, parish by parish”, the rate of people going to Confession had “increased dramatically during the past six months”. Continue Read more
The Archbishop of Suva Peter Loy Chong has opened the Holy Door at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Suva. He told Catholics who were part of a march from the Marist Brothers’ High School ground to the Sacred Heart Cathedral that opening the door of mercy means renewing their commitment in their faith and to start Read more
Pope Francis has announced that all priests will have the discretion to absolve the sin of abortion confessed by women during the upcoming Year of Mercy. This power is normally reserved to bishops, who frequently themselves grant priests permission to forgive the sin. Procurement of an abortion incurs an automatic excommunication under Church law. The Read more
The Vatican is refusing to confirm that Mother Teresa of Kolkata will be canonised as a saint in September next year. Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi responded to reports in Italian media that she would be canonised before the end of the Holy Year of Mercy. “It is a working hypothesis, therefore no official confirmation can be Read more
In a formal act, Pope Francis has called on the Church to refashion itself as a place, not of judgment or condemnation, but of pardon and merciful love. The Pope did this in an official Bull of Indiction convoking the extraordinary jubilee Year of Mercy, which will run from December 8, 2015, to November 20, Read more
The Extraordinary Jubilee promulgated by Francis will be the 65th in history. The first was announced by Sixtus V in 1585. The “special” Holy Year does not alter the recurrence of Ordinary Jubilees. The last Pope to open the (cemented shut) Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica for an universal Extraordinary Jubilee was the future Read more