Scottish Catholic Observer

Pope Francis called for a Church that puts mercy before judgment as he opened a Holy Door at St Peter’s basilica this morning and launched the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy.

The Pope was joined by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI as he pushed open the doors and prayed on the threshold of the Basilica on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

The year from, December 8 to the Feast of Christ the King next November, has been declared a jubilee year during which the faithful can receive blessing and pardon from God and remission of sins. Across the world Holy Doors will be opened in cathedrals and churches with St Andrew’s Cathedral in Glasgow set to open its Holy Door on Sunday.

Tens of thousands of people attended Mass in St Peter’s Square before the opening, with some of the most stringent security for a recent Vatican event, including unformed military patrolling through the crowd.

In his homily, the Pope said the Extraordinary Holy Year was a gift of grace. “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,” he said. “This will be a year in which we grow ever more convinced of God’s mercy. How much wrong we do to God and his grace when we speak of sins being punished by his judgment before we speak of their being forgiven by his mercy (St Augustine, De Praedestinatione Sanctorum, 12, 24).

“But that is the truth. We have to put mercy before judgment, and in any event God’s judgement will always be in the light of his mercy. In passing through the Holy Door, then, may we feel that we ourselves are part of this mystery of love. Let us set aside all fear and dread, for these do not befit men and women who are loved. Instead, let us experience the joy of encountering that grace which transforms all things.”

The Pope also paid tribute to the Second Vatican Council as ‘a genuine encounter between the Church and the men and women of our time.’

“An encounter marked by the power of the Spirit, who 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,” he said. “It was the resumption of a journey of encountering people where they live: in their cities and homes, in their workplaces. Wherever there are people, the Church is called to reach out to them and to bring the joy of the Gospel. After these decades, we again take up this missionary drive with the same power and enthusiasm.

“The Jubilee challenges us to this openness, and demands that we not neglect the spirit which emerged from Vatican II, the spirit of the Samaritan, as Blessed Paul VI expressed it at the conclusion of the Council. May our passing through the Holy Door today commit us to making our own the mercy of the Good Samaritan.”

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