OPENING OF THE HOLY DOOR AT ST. JOHN LATERAN

VATICAN CITY, DEC 25, 1999 (VIS) - At 6 p.m. this evening the Holy Father travelled from the Vatican to St. John Lateran. There, he opened the Holy Door of the basilica and presided at the celebration of the second vespers of the birth of the Lord.

At the start of his homily, the Holy Father affirmed that "God entered human history, He came to follow the paths of this world in order to give to all the capability of becoming children of God."

John Paul II recalled that the Lateran Basilica is the "mother and head of all Roman Churches throughout the world, as well as being the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome. Here in 1300, Pope Boniface VIII solemnly inaugurated the first Holy Year in history. Here in the Jubilee of 1423, Pope Martin V first opened the Holy Door."

"We have passed through that door," he continued, "which represents Christ Himself. In fact, He alone is the Savior sent by God the Father, who makes us pass from sin to grace, and introduces us to the full communion that unites Him to the Father in the Holy Spirit. We give thanks to God, rich in mercy, who gave his only Son as man's Redeemer."
The Pope concluded by underlining that the Holy Year "invites us to respond with joy and generosity to the call to sanctity, in order (for us) to become an ever greater sign of hope in modern society, as it heads towards the third millennium."

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