Vatican City, 1 September 2015 (VIS) –
The Holy Father has sent a letter to Archbishop Rino Fisichella,
president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation,
regarding the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, in which he reaffirms
his hope that the jubilee indulgence will lead every person to a
“genuine experience of God's mercy” and explains that it can also
be obtained by incarcerated persons. In addition, he grants to all
priests, notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, the faculty
to absolve from sin those who have resorted to abortion, repenting
and asking forgiveness with a sincere heart, and establishes that
those who during the Holy Year of Mercy approach the priests of the
Fraternity of St Pius X to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation
shall validly and licitly receive the absolution of their sins. The
following is the full text of the letter:
“With the approach of the
Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy I would like to focus on several
points which I believe require attention to enable the celebration of
the Holy Year to be for all believers a true moment of encounter with
the mercy of God. It is indeed my wish that the Jubilee be a living
experience of the closeness of the Father, whose tenderness is almost
tangible, so that the faith of every believer may be strengthened and
thus testimony to it be ever more effective.
“My thought first of all goes to all
the faithful who, whether in individual Dioceses or as pilgrims to
Rome, will experience the grace of the Jubilee. I wish that the
Jubilee Indulgence may reach each one as a genuine experience of
God’s mercy, which comes to meet each person in the Face of the
Father who welcomes and forgives, forgetting completely the sin
committed. To experience and obtain the Indulgence, the faithful are
called to make a brief pilgrimage to the Holy Door, open in every
Cathedral or in the churches designated by the Diocesan Bishop, and
in the four Papal Basilicas in Rome, as a sign of the deep desire for
true conversion. Likewise, I dispose that the Indulgence may be
obtained in the Shrines in which the Door of Mercy is open and in the
churches which traditionally are identified as Jubilee Churches. It
is important that this moment be linked, first and foremost, to the
Sacrament of Reconciliation and to the celebration of the Holy
Eucharist with a reflection on mercy. It will be necessary to
accompany these celebrations with the profession of faith and with
prayer for me and for the intentions that I bear in my heart for the
good of the Church and of the entire world.
“Additionally, I am thinking of those
for whom, for various reasons, it will be impossible to enter the
Holy Door, particularly the sick and people who are elderly and
alone, often confined to the home. For them it will be of great help
to live their sickness and suffering as an experience of closeness to
the Lord who in the mystery of his Passion, death and Resurrection
indicates the royal road which gives meaning to pain and loneliness.
Living with faith and joyful hope this moment of trial, receiving
communion or attending Holy Mass and community prayer, even through
the various means of communication, will be for them the means of
obtaining the Jubilee Indulgence. My thoughts also turn to those
incarcerated, whose freedom is limited. The Jubilee Year has always
constituted an opportunity for great amnesty, which is intended to
include the many people who, despite deserving punishment, have
become conscious of the injustice they worked and sincerely wish to
re-enter society and make their honest contribution to it. May they
all be touched in a tangible way by the mercy of the Father who wants
to be close to those who have the greatest need of his forgiveness.
They may obtain the Indulgence in the chapels of the prisons. May the
gesture of directing their thought and prayer to the Father each
time they cross the threshold of their cell signify for them their
passage through the Holy Door, because the mercy of God is able to
transform hearts, and is also able to transform bars into an
experience of freedom.
“I have asked the Church in this
Jubilee Year to rediscover the richness encompassed by the spiritual
and corporal works of mercy. The experience of mercy, indeed, becomes
visible in the witness of concrete signs as Jesus himself taught us.
Each time that one of the faithful personally performs one or more of
these actions, he or she shall surely obtain the Jubilee Indulgence.
Hence the commitment to live by mercy so as to obtain the grace of
complete and exhaustive forgiveness by the power of the love of the
Father who excludes no one. The Jubilee Indulgence is thus full, the
fruit of the very event which is to be celebrated and experienced
with faith, hope and charity.
“Furthermore, the Jubilee Indulgence
can also be obtained for the deceased. We are bound to them by the
witness of faith and charity that they have left us. Thus, as we
remember them in the Eucharistic celebration, thus we can, in the
great mystery of the Communion of Saints, pray for them, that the
merciful Face of the Father free them of every remnant of fault and
strongly embrace them in the unending beatitude.
“One of the serious problems of our
time is clearly the changed relationship with respect to life. A
widespread and insensitive mentality has led to the loss of the
proper personal and social sensitivity to welcome new life. The
tragedy of abortion is experienced by some with a superficial
awareness, as if not realising the extreme harm that such an act
entails. Many others, on the other hand, although experiencing this
moment as a defeat, believe they they have no other option. I think
in particular of all the women who have resorted to abortion. I am
well aware of the pressure that has led them to this decision. I know
that it is an existential and moral ordeal. I have met so many women
who bear in their heart the scar of this agonising and painful
decision. What has happened is profoundly unjust; yet only
understanding the truth of it can enable one not to lose hope. The
forgiveness of God cannot be denied to one who has repented,
especially when that person approaches the Sacrament of Confession
with a sincere heart in order to obtain reconciliation with the
Father. For this reason too, I have decided, notwithstanding anything
to the contrary, to concede to all priests for the Jubilee Year the
discretion to absolve of the sin of abortion those who have procured
it and who, with contrite heart, seek forgiveness for it. May priests
fulfil this great task by expressing words of genuine welcome
combined with a reflection that explains the gravity of the sin
committed, besides indicating a path of authentic conversion by which
to obtain the true and generous forgiveness of the Father who renews
all with his presence.
“A final consideration concerns those
faithful who for various reasons choose to attend churches officiated
by priests of the Fraternity of St Pius X. This Jubilee Year of Mercy
excludes no one. From various quarters, several Brother Bishops have
told me of their good faith and sacramental practice, combined
however with an uneasy situation from the pastoral standpoint. I
trust that in the near future solutions may be found to recover full
communion with the priests and superiors of the Fraternity. In the
meantime, motivated by the need to respond to the good of these
faithful, through my own disposition, I establish that those who
during the Holy Year of Mercy approach these priests of the
Fraternity of St Pius X to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation
shall validly and licitly receive the absolution of their sins.
“Trusting in the intercession of the
Mother of Mercy, I entrust the preparations for this Extraordinary
Jubilee Year to her protection”.