Vatican City, 29 January 2016 (VIS) –
This morning in the Holy See Press Office Archbishop Rino Fisichella,
president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation,
and Msgr. Graham Bell, under-secretary of the same dicastery,
presented two initiatives linked to the Jubilee Year: the
Missionaries of Mercy and the temporary translation to Rome of the
relics of St. Pio of Pietrelcina and St. Leopold Mandic.
"It is has been almost two months
now since Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of St. Peter’s",
said Archbishop Fisichella. "Since that moment, the Doors of
Mercy have been opened all around the world. The incredible number of
people who have registered for these events allows us to acknowledge
how this insight of Pope Francis, his idea of having this
Extraordinary Jubilee, has answered a true need of the people of God
who are receiving this event of grace with great joy and enthusiasm.
We can conclude from this participation that the Jubilee is being
intensely lived in all the world and in every local Church, where
this time of grace is being organised as a genuine form of renewal
for the Church and as a particular moment of the new evangelisation".
"Every day we receive thousands of
pictures and documents from around the world attesting to the
commitment and the faith of believers", he continued. "Yet
all of this activity has not stopped a substantial number of pilgrims
from arriving in Rome during this period. According to the data
available to us on a daily basis, as of today 1,392,000 people have
participated in Jubilee events. An interesting detail is that 40 per
cent of those who have attended come from abroad, speaking largely
Spanish and French. We have registered pilgrims from Bangladesh, Hong
Kong, Korea, Kenya, Mozambique, El Salvador, New Zealand, Argentina,
Mexico, the Fiji Islands, Russia, Belarus, the Seychelles, the Ivory
Coast, Chad, Kuwait, the U.S.A., Albania and from many other
countries. I would like to reiterate that this is not the criteria by
which to judge the actual outcome of the Jubilee. A Holy Year of
mercy goes well beyond numbers, for it is intended to touch the
hearts and the minds of people in order to assist them in coming to
understand the ways in which God’s great love manifests itself in
their daily lives. It is a time during which to assess our lives of
faith and to understand how we are capable of conversion and renewal,
both of which come from recognising the importance of remaining
focused upon what is essential. In any case, a general evaluation of
the Jubilee cannot be made after only two months but must be done at
its conclusion. All of the other considerations at the moment are
incomplete and temporary and, thus, do not merit particular
attention".
Archbishop Fisichella described two
signs of the Holy Father's concrete witness of mercy. On Friday,
December 18, he opened the Door of Charity in the homeless shelter,
“Don Luigi di Liegro”, where he celebrated Holy Mass in the
refectory. On January 15, he visited first the “Bruno Buozzi”
nursing home for the elderly in Torrespaccata, Rome, then the Casa
Iride where he spent time with those in vegetative states who are
being assisted by their families. "These signs possess a
symbolic value before all of the many needs that are present in
society today", he emphasised, "intended to stir in all of
us a greater awareness of the many situations of need in our cities
and to offer a small response of caring and aid".
Following these reflections on the
first two months of the Jubilee, the prelate presented two upcoming
special events. The first is the presence in Rome of the reliquaries
containing the relics of St. Leopold Mandic and St. Pio of
Pietrelcina. "Such an occasion is of great significance for it
is an unprecedented event, given the stories of these two saints who
spent their lives in the service of the mercy of God. Fr. Leopold
(1866-1942) was canonised by St. John Paul II on December 16, 1983
and is less well known than St. Pio. Yet, his hunger for holiness
spread beyond the Church of Padua, where he lived the major part of
his life and where his memory and his relics remain. Originally from
Croatia, this Capuchin father dedicated all of his life to the
confessional. For almost thirty years, he spent from ten to fifteen
hours a day in the secrecy of his cell, the very place which became a
confessional for thousands of people who found in their relationships
with him the privileged witness of forgiveness and of mercy. Some of
his brothers noted that he was 'ignorant and too lenient in forgiving
everyone without discernment'. Yet, his simple and humble response to
this charge leaves one speechless: 'Should the Crucified blame me for
being lenient, I would answer Him: Lord, you gave me this bad
example. I have not yet reached the folly of your having died for
souls'".
St. Pio (1887-1968), canonised in 2002
by St. John Paul II, "does not require lengthy presentation.
This simple Capuchin friar spent his entire life at San Giovanni
Rotondo without ever leaving that town. Certainly, during his life,
some in Rome caused him to suffer, but his holiness always prevailed.
In the silence of obedience, he also became a privileged witness of
mercy, dedicating all of his life to the celebration of the Sacrament
of Reconciliation. We are grateful to the Capuchin Fathers and to the
Bishops of the Dioceses of Padua and Manfredonia-Vieste-San Giovanni
Rotondo for having responded so graciously to the wish of the Pope
that the relics of these two saints remain in Rome for a period of
time during the Jubilee".
"The program is quite simple",
he explained. "The urns containing the relics will arrive in
Rome on February 3 where they will be placed in the Church of San
Lorenzo Fuori le Mura. The church will be open to the faithful
starting at 15:00 with a celebration of reception. The relics will
remain in San Lorenzo until 20:30 the following day, during which
time there will be a number of celebrations reserved for the vast
extended Franciscan Family. An all-night vigil is being organised in
the Jubilee Church of San Salvatore in Lauro, which will begin at
22:00 on February 4. The prayer will continue until the following
day, February 5, with various celebrations and will conclude with
Holy Mass at 14:00 presided by Michele Castoro, the Archbishop of
Manfredonia-Vieste-San Giovanni Rotondo. At 16:00, a procession with
the two reliquaries containing the relics will begin from San
Salvatore in Lauro and then proceed the entire length of Via della
Conciliazione in order to arrive at the parvis of St. Peter’s
Basilica. There, Cardinal Angelo Comastri, the Archpriest of St.
Peter’s Basilica, will receive the relics and after a moment of
prayer, will then accompany the relics into the Basilica where they
will be placed in the central nave before the Altar of the Confession
for people to venerate. The relics will remain in St. Peter’s for
veneration until the morning of February 11 when, after the Holy Mass
of thanksgiving at 7:30 am at the Altar of the Chair, they will be
returned to their original homes. It is opportune to note that on
February 10, Ash Wednesday, the Basilica will remain closed in the
morning for the General Audience and then, in the afternoon, Holy
Mass will be celebrated in the Basilica to mark the beginning of
Lent. Thus, those who wish to venerate the relics are kindly asked to
choose to do so on one of the previous days and to follow along the
Jubilee reserved walkway in order to enter through the security check
point as rapidly as possible".
The second event is the celebration
that will take place on Ash Wednesday, when the Holy Father will give
the mandate to the Missionaries of Mercy. "As attested to in the
Bull of Indiction, Misericordiae vultus, the Missionaries are to be a
'sign of the Church’s maternal solicitude for the People of God,
enabling them to enter the profound richness of this mystery so
fundamental to the faith. There will be priests to whom I will grant
the authority to pardon even those sins reserved to the Holy See, so
that the breadth of their mandate as confessors will be even clearer.
They will be, above all, living signs of the Father’s readiness to
welcome those in search of his pardon. They will be missionaries of
mercy because they will be facilitators of a truly human encounter, a
source of liberation, rich with responsibility for overcoming
obstacles and taking up the new life of Baptism again. They will be
led in their mission by the words of the Apostle: ‘For God has
consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all’”.
"Thus, the Missionaries of Mercy
are a select number of priests who have received from the Pope the
charge to be privileged witnesses in their respective Churches of the
extraordinariness of this Jubilee event", explained the
archbishop. "It is only the Pope who nominates these
Missionaries, not the Bishops, and it is he who entrusts them with
the mandate to announce the beauty of the mercy of God while being
humble and wise confessors who possess a great capacity to forgive
those who approach the confessional. The Missionaries, who come from
every continent, number over 1,000. I am delighted to announce that
there are Missionaries coming from many distant countries and, among
these, some of which have a uniquely significant importance such as:
Burma, Lebanon, China, South Korea, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates,
Israel, Burundi, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, Latvia, East Timor, Indonesia,
Thailand, and Egypt. There will also be Oriental Rite priests".
"We have received a great response
for participation but must place a limit on the large number of
requests in order to ensure that the specific sign value, one which
expresses how truly special the initiative is, be maintained",
he remarked. "All of the Missionaries have received the
permission of their respective diocesan Bishops or Religious
Superiors and will make themselves available to those requesting
their services throughout the entirety of the Jubilee but, most
especially, during the Lenten Season. There will be seven hundred
Missionaries arriving in Rome. Pope Francis will meet with them on
February 9 in order to express his feelings regarding this initiative
which will certainly be one of the most touching and significant of
the Jubilee of Mercy. On the following day, only the Missionaries of
Mercy will concelebrate with the Holy Father, during which time they
will receive the 'mandate', as well as the faculty to absolve those
sins reserved to the Holy See. An interesting story may help to
capture the pastoral interest that this initiative has garnered
around the world. Father Richard from Australia will visit 27
communities in his rural Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle where there is
only one church and no priests in residence. Traveling in a camper,
he will journey from community to community as a 'Missionary of Mercy
on Wheels'! This is but an example of the way in which the Jubilee is
meant to reach all, allowing everyone to touch the closeness and the
tenderness of God".
Finally, other Jubilee events are
planned. The first Jubilee Audience will be held in St. Peter’s
Square on Saturday, January 30. "Pope Francis has responded
generously to the many requests he has received from pilgrims who
wish to meet him. Consequently, one Saturday a month has been added
to the official calendar for a special audience, one which will be in
addition to the regular Wednesday Audiences. This first audience
already has 20,000 people registered. Another event of particular
interest is the Jubilee for the Curia, the Governorate, and
Institutions connected to the Holy See to be held on 22 February.
This celebration will begin with a reflection given by Fr. Marco
Rupnik at 8:30 am in the Paul VI Hall. After this meditation, there
will be a procession through St. Peter’s Square which will pass
through the Holy Door. Holy Mass will then be celebrated by Pope
Francis at 10 am".
"The Jubilee continues to follow
its course and we are certain that, in accord with the desires of
Pope Francis, it will be an important opportunity to live out in our
daily lives the mercy which the Father constantly extends to all of
us”, concluded the president of the Pontifical Council for
Promoting New Evangelisation.
