The Church
Pope's Year of Mercy letter
With the approach of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy I would like to focus on several points which I believe require attention to enable the celebration of the Holy Year to be for all believers a true moment of encounter with the mercy of God. (Image: Courtesy Shutterstock neneo/Shutterstock.com )
The Year of Mercy full program
The Holy Year of Mercy begins December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, with the opening of the Holy Door of St Peter's. But the year-long jubilee will include a number of individual jubilee days for specific groups including youth, relgiious, and prisoners. (Image: Courtesy Shutterstock)
Francis and the Year of Mercy
Pope Francis announced in March his intention to proclaim a holy year as a way for the Church to "make more evident its mission to be a witness of mercy." Announcing the Jubilee of Mercy, which begins on December 8. the Pontiff said: "Do not forget that God forgives all, and God forgives always." (Image: Courtesy Shutterstock)
The Year of Mercy prayer, music
"No one can be excluded from the mercy of God," the Pontiff said, announcing the Jubilee of Mercy, which begins on December 8. The website, Jubilee of Mercy, contains many resources, including the logo, the prayer, and updated news, and can be found here. (Image: Courtesy The Vatican)
Pope Francis
When Francis was elected Pope in March, 2013, he was the first Bishop of Rome from the New World in the history of the Church. Since then, he has made an enormous impact on the world by his simplicity, his humility, his pastoral care of his flock, and his vision for the Church in the third millenium. (Image: CNA)
Benedict XVI, Pope Emeritus
For the first time in history, two Popes are living in the Vatican. Pope Francis and his immediate predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, are showing how the Church can, with faith and goodwill, live in harmony.
The Second Vatican Council
More than fifty years after the close of the Second Vatican Council, the deep transformation it set in motion continues to reverberate through the Church at every level, from the halls of the Vatican to the pews of our local parishes. See here for some of the books about Vat II.
Change of heart for ecumenism?
At a meeting in June 2014 in the Vatican with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Pope Francis called the division in the Church 'a scandal.' Read more on ecumeniism, the interdenominational initiative aimed at greater Christian unity or cooperation, here.
