Pope Francis Calls for ‘God’s Mercy’ at Start of Yearlong Jubilee
By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Tuesday ushered in a yearlong celebration dedicated to the theme of mercy, intoning the ceremonial versicle, “Open unto me the gates of justice” before pushing open the bronze doors in St. Peter’s Basilica that are kept bricked up until the start of a Jubilee, or Holy Year.

The pope paused on the threshold of the basilica for a long moment to pray, then became the first of an estimated 10 million Roman Catholics who are expected to pass through the Holy Door — a symbol of the threshold to salvation — in the coming months.

Francis was followed by a frail-looking pope emeritus, Benedict XVI, who made a rare public appearance to participate in a religious ritual that dates back more than 700 years.

He was followed by cardinals, bishops, dignitaries and some of the 70,000 people who reached St. Peter’s Square on a chilly and wet morning after passing through the airport-style security checks that have been instituted for what Rome’s police chief described as a “Jubilee in the time of ISIS,” as the Islamic State is known.

Streets leading to the Vatican were closed to traffic and hundreds of law enforcement officers patrolled the surrounding streets, as well as tourist attractions in central Rome.

“To pass through the Holy Door means to rediscover the infinite mercy of the Father who welcomes everyone and goes out personally to encounter each of them,” the pope said in the homily during the Mass that preceded the opening ceremony. “This will be a year in which we grow ever more convinced of God’s mercy.”

Mercy has become a cornerstone of Francis’ papacy, part of his vision of a less judgmental church that is open to all.

“Mercy is the keyword of the Gospel,” the pope reiterated on Tuesday during the midday Angelus prayer.

Since 1300, Jubilee years have been celebrated at 25- or 50-year intervals, with the occasional extraordinary Jubilee, like this one. Francis called for this Jubilee to highlight the world’s need for mercy, “the revolution of tenderness,” the pope said in an interview this month with the Italian magazine Credere.

“It is the year of forgiveness, the year of reconciliation,” he said.

For the first time, too, the Jubilee is focused not only on Rome but also on local places of worship, in keeping with the pope’s instruction that bishops open Holy Doors in cathedrals around the world so that the faithful can participate in the celebrations without traveling to Vatican City.

The ceremony on Tuesday formally opened celebrations of the Jubilee, which ends on Nov. 20, 2016, but the pope had already opened another Holy Door during his trip to Africa last month, proclaiming Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, “the spiritual capital of the world.”

Nearly 40 countries selected pilgrimage cathedrals or sites with Holy Doors, including a tent in a camp in Erbil, in northern Iraq, home to thousands of displaced Iraqi Christians, according to the Vatican newspaper, the Osservatore Romano.

The Vatican has established a Jubilee of Mercy website that lists cathedrals whose Holy Doors will open on Sunday.

Francis timed the beginning of the Jubilee to coincide with the feast day of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, as well as the 50th anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council, the three-year gathering of bishops that brought the church into the modern era. That encounter “impelled the church to emerge from the shoals which, for years, had kept her self-enclosed so as to set out once again, with enthusiasm, on her missionary journey,” the pope said in his homily on Tuesday, reinforcing the mission he has set for his papacy. “The Jubilee challenges us to this openness,” he added.

“Pope Francis is living the Holy Year of Mercy as an urgency for the church at the beginning of the millennium,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, said at a book event last week.

He described the celebration as a sign that the “church is living fully and deeply in its own time.” Mercy, he added, is a balm against the “hatred, violence, fanaticism” that spread “like poison” among people.

In the document proclaiming the Jubilee in April, the pope expressed a “burning desire” that Christians reflect on the corporal and spiritual acts of mercy, acts that Roman Catholics are expected to carry out.

The pope touched on these themes in his Angelus address, calling the faithful to be witnesses of Christ’s love, especially to those most in need.

In what was effectively an appeal to Christians to alter their lives, he cited the Gospel of Matthew: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.”

For some, concerns about security after the terrorist attacks in Paris last month may have dampened enthusiasm about traveling to Rome for the Jubilee, and the Italian news media reported that hotel reservations were markedly down.

But still, many came.

“To see the church gather in celebration is not an opportunity to give up,” said Greg Iwinski, a comedy writer from Los Angeles who was among those in St. Peter’s Square. The pope’s message of mercy, he said, was crucial in a world of political squabbling, spreading global war and “the vindictiveness found on social media.”

Mercy, he said, “cuts through all that.”

教宗開聖門迎「慈悲禧年」 安檢超嚴格

教宗方濟各8日為「慈悲禧年」揭開序幕，呼籲將「恐懼與擔心」擺在一旁。數以萬計信徒齊聚梵蒂岡，接受嚴格安檢，才得以進入。

方濟各主持完彌撒後，開啟向來以磚頭封起的聖伯多祿大教堂（St. Peter`s Basilica）聖門，持續一年的慈悲禧年正式揭幕。據梵蒂岡估計，約7萬人在聖伯多祿廣場參與這場彌撒。

自8日一早起，員警就開始對朝聖者、記者、外交人員，甚至神父進行安檢，部分人士被要求搜身和檢查包包。

羅馬警長加布瑞里表示：「恐怖主義威脅永遠不會消失，我們無法提供絕對安全，但致力做到人們應獲得的安全水平。」

方濟各在彌撒中呼籲信徒在心靈及日常生活中要擁有勇氣，他說，「讓我們將恐懼與擔心擺一旁，這些和擁有愛的男男女女不相稱。讓我們感受受恩典的喜悅，這份恩典改變了一切事物」。

這是自這項傳統逾700年前展開以來，天主教會第29個慈悲禧年。

高齡88歲、看來虛弱的前教宗本篤16世（Pope Benedict）自2013年突然宣布退位後，罕見公開露面。隱居梵蒂岡的本篤16世在聖門前和方濟各擁抱。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/world/europe/pope-mercy-jubilee-vatican-st-peters-basilica.html

Video：Pope Francis joined his predecessor, Benedict XVI, on Tuesday to begin the Roman Catholic Church’s Holy Year, or Jubilee.
http://www.nytimes.com/video/world/europe/100000004081247/pope-francis-opens-vaticans-holy-door.html

2015-12-10 世界日報 編譯中心