Opening the Door The Year of Mercy

Pope Francis Announces Jubilee Year Presenter: Read the subtitles for all to hear .

The Day Pope Francis decreed that the Holy Year will begin on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, December 8, 2015, with the opening of the Holy Door in the Basilica of St. Peter at the Vatican.

The Next Sunday . . On the following Sunday, December 13, the Third Sunday of Advent, the opening of the Holy Door of the Cathedral of Rome, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, will take place. After that, the Holy Doors of the other Papal Basilicas will be opened.

The day, in the Diocese of New Ulm Then, also on December 13, in every local church [Every Diocese], at the cathedral — the mother church of the faithful in any particular area, a Door of Mercy will be opened for the duration of the Holy Year. The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, New Ulm

Also, in the Diocese of New Ulm “At the discretion of the local ordinary [Bishop LeVoir], a similar door may be opened at any shrine frequented by large groups of pilgrims, since visits to these holy sites are so often grace-filled moments as people discover a path to conversion” (MV, 3). Schoenstatt Shrine in Sleepy Eye, December 20

Pope Francis’ Secret Revealed Listen for the three areas in which we are asked to make a special effort during the Year of Mercy? What is a pilgrimage? What are the works of Mercy?

Why the Year of Mercy? The Year of Mercy . . . Invites Catholics to rediscover works of mercy. Invites Catholics to frequently celebrate the Sacrament of Confession. To "gaze even more attentively on mercy so that it may become a more effective sign of the Father's action in our lives.“ (Misericordiae Vultus 3)

Pope Francis’ Prayer for the Jubilee Year of Mercy You are the visible face of the invisible Father, of the God who manifests his power above all by forgiveness and mercy: let the Church be your visible face in the world, its Lord risen and glorified. You willed that your ministers would also be clothed in weakness in order that they may feel compassion for those in ignorance and error: let everyone who approaches them feel sought after, loved, and forgiven by God.

Send your Spirit and consecrate every one of us with its anointing, so that the Jubilee of Mercy may be a year of grace from the Lord, and your Church, with renewed enthusiasm, may bring good news to the poor, proclaim liberty to captives and the oppressed, and restore sight to the blind.

We ask this through the intercession of Mary, Mother of Mercy, you who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen. Excerpted from Pope Francis’ Prayer for the Jubilee Year of Mercy