"In this Jubilee Year, let us allow God to surprise us. He never tires of casting open the doors of His heart and of repeating that He loves us and wants to share His love with us.  The Church feels the urgent need to proclaim God’s mercy. Her life is authentic and credible only when she becomes a convincing herald of mercy…"

~ Pope Francis, Misericordiae Vultus, The Face of Mercy, 25 ~
(entire Bull is linked below)

THE YEAR OF MERCY

On the official website for the Jubilee Year of Mercy, www.im.va, you will find official information regarding the calendar of major public events, information on how to follow, in real time, the major events as they take place.
 
The Year of Mercy commences on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 (Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception) and concludes on Sunday, November 20, 2016 (Solemnity of our Lord, Jesus Christ, King of the Universe).  The motto for the Year of Mercy is “Merciful like the Father.” The  Year of Mercy is an invitation for all of us to follow the example of God, who asks us not to judge or condemn but to offer love and forgiveness to all.

THE ARCHDIOCESE OF DETROIT'S

HOLY DOOR OF MERCY

Throughout the jubilee year, Holy Doors will be opened at the major basilicas of Rome, as well as cathedrals worldwide, including the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit for the first time in history. Faithful who make a pilgrimage and pass through a holy door receive a plenary indulgence. 

"The Holy Door will become a Door of Mercy through which anyone who enters will experience the love of God who consoles, pardons, and instills hope." - Pope Francis, Misericordiae Vultus, 3.

To view all dates when the AOD's Holy Door of Mercy will be open to the public, please explore THIS link.

To read/share Year of Mercy related articles appearing in the Michigan Catholic, please click HERE.

YEAR OF MERCY OFFICIAL HYMN

 
Paul Inwood, composer of the hymn for the Year of Mercy, offers the following to parish musicians:
 

1. Links to the score and audio recording are currently on the Pontifical Council’s Italian website.
2. There is a YouTube video available.
3. The free Vatican download PDFs, MP3 and YouTube video will be found at this page.
    
   The hymn is currently available in Italian, English and French, and the author and composer have donated all rights in it to the Pontifical Council to aid its diffusion around the world.
    
   Paul Inwood also has generously offered to make TIF files (with English verses) available in different formats. More information about the available formats can be found here.
    
   Paul is happy to send them free of charge to you. Please email him at [email protected].  

Two Dispensations for the Jubilee Year
On September 1, 2015,  Pope Francis sent a letter to the president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.  In this letter, Pope Francis writes of his concern that all God’s people have an opportunity to experience the mercy and forgiveness of God.  His magnanimity leaves no one outside of this mercy and forgiveness.  He mentions those who visit the Holy Door in Rome as well as the Holy Door in each diocese.  He enumerates ways in which the sick and elderly, the incarcerated, the deceased and all who perform a spiritual and corporal work of mercy can obtain the Jubilee Indulgence.
 
At the end of the letter Pope Francis extends two dispensations:
 

• to all priests, the discretion to absolve from sin of abortion those who have procured an abortion and now approach Reconciliation with a contrite heart seeking forgiveness
   
• and to those faithful who, for various reasons, choose to attend churches of the St. Pius X Fraternity,  he establishes that during the Holy Year of Mercy those faithful who approach priests from the Fraternity of St. Pius X to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation shall validly and licitly receive the absolution of their sins.  [Ordinarily these priests do not have the faculty to forgive sins.  This is a major concession to the Pius X Fraternity and Pope Francis hopes that full communion with this group can be established in the future.]
   
  Read the full Letter on indulgences here:  http://www.im.va/content/gdm/en/giubileo/lettera.html

The Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization has created a series of 8 short books as the official catechetical resources for the Year of Mercy.  See attached flyer for information.