Launched on the Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception (December 8) and running until November 16, 2016, the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy is now underway in Rome and around the world. On Sunday, December 13, openings of Holy Doors at designated churches around Tuscany will officially begin. Upon passing through these sacred doors and partaking in the rituals of confession, prayer and communion, pilgrims are believed to receive remission of sins.
Throughout the Jubilee, the main Holy Doors will be located at dioceses’ respective cathedrals, but certain churches historically associated with pilgrimage will also participate. In the Archdiocese of Florence, the center of the action is Santa Maria del Fiore: on December 13, a 4pm procession will move from the Basilica of San Lorenzo toward the belltower side of piazza del Duomo, where Cardinal Giuseppe Betori will open the Holy Door. Openings will also take place at the Church of Santa Maria in Impruneta (6pm, December 19) and at the Basilica of Santissima Annunziata in Florence (10am, December 20). Other sacred centers in Tuscany during the Jubilee include the Sanctuary of Montenero (Livorno), the Basilica of the Sanctuary of La Verna (Chiusi della Verna) and the Sanctuary of Monte Argentario. The Diocese of San Miniato has delayed its participation in the Holy Year until December 20, when the new bishop Andrea Migliavacca will be installed.
With a papal bull issued on April 11, 2015, Pope Francis called the Jubilee ‘a symbol of the communion of the whole church,’ coinciding with the fiftieth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s closure (December 8, 1965).
