On March 13, 2015, Pope Francis announced
the celebration of an "extraordinary Holy Year". This "Jubilee
of Mercy" will commence with the opening of the Holy Door in St. Peter’s
on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, 2015, and will conclude on
November 20, 2016 with the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the
Universe. At the start of the new year, the Holy Father had stated: "This
is the time of mercy. It is important that the lay faithful live it and bring
it into different social environments. Go forth!"
The Jubilee announcement had been made on
the second anniversary of the election of Pope Francis, during his homily for
the penitential liturgy with which the Holy Father opened the "24 Hours
for the Lord". This initiative, proposed by the Pontifical Council for the
Promotion of the New Evangelization, promotes throughout the world the opening
of churches for an extended period of time for the purpose of inviting people
to the celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The theme for this year
has been taken from the Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians, "God rich in
mercy".
The opening of this next Jubilee will take
place on the fiftieth anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council
in 1965. This is of great significance, for it impels the Church to continue
the work begun at Vatican II.
In the ancient Hebrew tradition, the
Jubilee Year, which was celebrated every 50 years, was meant to restore
equality among all of the children of Israel, offering new possibilities to
families which had lost their property and even their personal freedom. In
addition, the Jubilee Year was a reminder to the rich that a time would come
when their Israelite slaves would once again become their equals and would be
able to reclaim their rights. "Justice, according to the Law of Israel,
consisted above all in the protection of the weak" (St. John Paul II,
Tertio millenio adveniente 13).
