At the conclusion of his apostolic visit to the Italian city of L’Aquila, Pope Francis inaugurated on Sunday the Celestine Jubilee, to be the first Pontiff to launch the Year of Full Forgiveness proclaimed by Pope Celestinus V in the year 728.
At the end of his pastoral visit to the Italian city of L’Aquila on Sunday, August 28, His Holiness Pope Francis inaugurated the Celestine Jubilee. Pope Francis thus became the first Pontiff to open the Holy Door, in the Basilica of Saint Mary in Colimago, initiating the 728th year of the Celestine Atonement, amid the joy of the 7,000 faithful gathered in the basilica’s courtyard. Pope Celestinus V had declared complete forgiveness in 1294, and it was renewed by his successors.
In his prayer during the opening of the Jubilee, Pope Francis prayed that the Church would rejoice in an inner renewal through the work of the Holy Spirit, and that she would walk in the midst of the world as a sign of salvation and redemption. And the Holy Father continued his supplication to the Almighty God, to open to us fully the door of his mercy, and to open for us one day the gates of the heavenly house to which Jesus preceded us. Pope Francis asked God to enable all those who cross this threshold with renewed commitment and firm faith to obtain the salvation that comes from you and to you leads, the seal of the Holy Father before entering the Basilica.
Pope Francis then continued to inaugurate the Celestine Jubilee by visiting the mausoleum in which the relics of Celestinus V, the hermit who became Pope, are preserved, and the decree in which Celestinus V declared complete indulgence is preserved in this place. Pope Francis paused here to pray and meditate in silence. Before leaving the basilica, the Holy Father listened to Cardinal Giuseppe Petrucci, Archbishop of L’Aquila, who introduced him to some details of the shrine. Pope Francis then greeted the representatives of the authorities who participated in the Divine Liturgy presided over by His Holiness in the Basilica of Saint Mary in Colimago at ten in the morning and then participated in the opening of the Jubilee. At 12:23 p.m., the plane that brought the Holy Father back to the Vatican took off, concluding his pastoral visit.