More than nine million pilgrims have passed through the holy doors of four major basilicas in Rome; the Holy Year of Mercy has defeated the fear of terrorism, although security remains high since the Paris attacks. This is a global Holy Year that has been celebrated in every local Church. Organisational problems have been resolved in time for Mother Teresa’s canonisation ceremony in September.
This Jubilee has been a low-key affair and yet it is moving along and going from strength to strength. Seven months after the start of the Extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy, the figures say it all: more than nine million pilgrims have come to Rome to attend the various Jubilee events, with the main objective of visiting the city’s four major basilicas and pass through the holy doors, including the Sanctuary of Our Divine Love.
The President of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelisation, Rino Fisichella, shared this information in recent days. The figure regarding the influx of pilgrims means a number of things. First of all, it means faithful have heard and taken Francis’ message on board. Mercy, Francis explained in the Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee, dated April 2015 is “the fundamental law that dwells in the heart of every person who looks sincerely into the eyes of his brothers and sisters on the path of life. Mercy: the bridge that connects God and man, opening our hearts to the hope of being loved forever despite our sinfulness.” But while this is an important figure, there were a number of organisational unknowns that weighed on the event.
First and foremost, the fear of a terrorist attack. The Jubilee opening ceremony was held on 8 December 2015, just a month after the attacks which rocked Paris on 13 November, leaving 130 dead and hundreds injured. St. Peter’s Square gradually started filling up and by the end of the morning 50,000 faithful had left their fears behind and attended the Pope’s mass. And yet there was a climate of tension and fear in those first few days, security measures were stringent and the security checks and armoured police vehicles in the streets surrounding the Vatican, were visible proof of how palpable people’s concern was. Although surveillance continues it is less invasive and more discreet but the general climate has changed quite substantially: with the arrival of spring, the flow of faithful resumed in Via della Conciliazione. Although the Islamic State had stated that St. Peter’s and the Pope were targets, these comments could have been aimed at attracting media attention and making propaganda more than anything else. Still, it is important to keep them in mind.
It is also worth recalling that the Holy Year of Mercy announced by Pope Francis about 9 months before its start, was organised within a short period of time and the fear was that the city was not going to be ready in time to host the event. This is partly because in the run up to the Jubilee, Rome went through a political and institutional crisis which culminated in the fall of former mayor Ignazio Marino’s council and the arrival of Francesco Paolo Tronca, a prefect sent by the Italian government. In light of this situation, the few initiatives aimed at improving visitor access and reception were delayed even further. Still, there weren’t that many works in progress and in many cases urgent work was completed very quickly. Vitally, however, a limited number of Jubilee events have taken place in Rome which is a first compared to the past. The Pope sought to promote the opening of holy doors in dioceses and sanctuaries across the world. The Holy Year thus became a global event and the Jubilee is not just Rome-centred but has been celebrated in all local churches and communities.
Some important events are scheduled to take place over the coming months; the Jubilee for the sick has just been held, while in June there are two Jubilee (in other words extraordinary) audiences which are both to take place on a Saturday, one on 18 and the other on 30 June. These events were planned in order to give faithful the chance to meet the Pope in St. Peter’s Square. The Jubilee for workers and volunteers of mercy will take place from 2 to 4 September, the Jubilee for catechists will be celebrated from 22 to 25 September, the Marian Jubilee from 7 to 9 October and the Jubilee for prisoners on 6 November. In all of these cases a celebration will be held in St. Peter’s Square. The holy doors in Rome and around the world are due to shut on 13 November. But this is not all. On 4 September one of the most eagerly awaited events of the entire Holy Year is to take place: the canonization of Mother Teresa of Calcutta who was beatified by John Paul II in 1997. This will most certainly be one of the key dates of the whole Jubilee in terms of attendance and pilgrim numbers in Rome.
