In addition to sending out specially assigned “missionaries” to forgive even the most grievous sins, the Vatican has released more information about the upcoming Holy Year of Mercy such as its theme, logo, official prayer, and calendar of events.
Catholic News Service (CNS) is reporting on a news conference held at the Vatican on May 5 in which more details of the upcoming Holy Year were released to the public.
Beginning on December 8, 2015 and ending on November 20, 2016, the motto of the year is “Merciful Like the Father” and is intended to serve “as an invitation to follow the merciful example of the Father who asks us not to judge or condemn but to forgive and to give love and forgiveness without measure,” said Archbishop Rino Fisichella.
This is in keeping with the desire of Pope Francis who announced in March that his intention for the Holy Year was to give the Church a way to “make more evident its mission to be a witness of mercy.”
One of the ways the Pope wants to give this witness is to send out “missionaries of mercy” who will be specially selected priests who are granted the authority to pardon even those sins reserved to the Holy See.”
According to Archbishop Fisichella, the priests will be chosen on their ability to preach well and to be “good confessors”, meaning that they do not make the confessional into “a torture chamber” as Pope Francis says.
The priests will also have to “be patient” and have “an understanding of human fragility,” the archbishop said.
Bishops will be able to recommend priests from their own dioceses to serve as missionaries of mercy, he said, and priests themselves can submit their request to serve, he said. Church authorities will then consult with the priest’s bishop to make sure he is “suitable for this ministry” and has the bishop’s approval to serve as a missionary.
“More than a dozen individual jubilee celebrations will be scheduled in 2016, such as a jubilee for consecrated men and women Feb. 2 to close the Year of Consecrated Life; a jubilee for the Roman Curia Feb. 22; a jubilee for those devoted to the spirituality of Divine Mercy on Divine Mercy Sunday April 3; and separate jubilees for teenagers; for deacons; priests; the sick and disabled; and catechists,” CNS reports.
A special jubilee for prisoners will be celebrated Nov. 6 and Pope Francis wants the inmates to join him in St. Peter’s Basilica. The Holy Year council is discussing the feasibility of this proposal with local government authorities.
Bishops and priests around the world are being asked to conduct “similar symbolic gestures of communion with Pope Francis” and his vision of reaching out to those on the margins.
“As a concrete sign of the Pope’s charitable love,” the Archbishop said, “effective measures will be taken to meet real needs in the world that will express mercy through tangible assistance.”
The council distributed copies of the Holy Year Prayer and logo which features Jesus taking “upon his shoulders the lost soul, demonstrating that it is the love of Christ that brings to completion the mystery of his incarnation culminating in redemption,” the archbishop said.
In the logo, which was created by Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik, one of Jesus’ eyes is merged with the man’s to show how “Christ sees with the eyes of Adam, and Adam with the eyes of Christ.”
The council has also joined with the United Bible Societies to distribute 1 million free copies of the Gospel of Mark to pilgrims with the texts being made available in seven languages.
The Jubilee of Mercy has an official website in seven languages; a Twitter handle @Jubilee_va; a Facebook page; and accounts on Instagram, Flickr and Google+.
