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No one will be excluded from the Jubilee, says Pope Francis’ delegate
In an interview with EFE just days before the start of this important event for the Catholic Church, Pope Francis ‘ delegate for the organization of the Jubilee , Monsignor Rino Fisichella, said that no one, from homosexual associations to the poorest, will be excluded from the great event that is celebrated every 25 years.
In recent days, the pilgrimage of the association ‘La tienda de Jonás’, which cares for Catholic homosexuals and their families, was included in the official calendar among the hundreds of events planned for the Holy Year.
“We include in the calendar all those who ask us to have a faith experience. We only ask to have a pilgrimage experience and a faith experience, so I don’t see why anyone should be excluded,” explains Fisichella.
“There will be people who will come to Rome on foot, by canoe, by bicycle and in all kinds of ways. So if an association that carries out pastoral care for homosexuals wants to make this experience of faith a reality, I think they should find the Jubilee prepared for them too,” he adds.
The Jubilee will not forget the poor , who unlike the rest of the tourists will not leave money in the big machinery of the event, with an event dedicated to them, where many are expected to come from all over Europe to live this experience, while Rome is also preparing with four structures to welcome the most needy: “They too must be at the centre of the attention of the Church and, therefore, of the Jubilee.”
While waiting for the act that will mark the beginning of the Jubilee on December 24, when the Holy Door of the Vatican Basilica will be opened, through which pilgrims will pass to receive the ‘plenary indulgence’ (forgiveness of all sins), Fisichella explains its meaning.
“I understand that for our contemporaries, indulgence is a very strange word, one that is never used, but it is synonymous with mercy and forgiveness. This is what Jubilees are for, to experience the closeness of God, his love and his forgiveness,” he says.
Meaning of Jubilee
Asked what this great event means for Catholics, the president of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization also stressed that it is a stage in which “believers are asked to stop for a moment, reflect, think about their lives, understand where we are going and then, resume our journey and become pilgrims.”
For many months, Romans and tourists have been living through a nightmare due to the hundreds of construction works in the capital. “There has been a lot of talk about the works, but all this helps to make Rome more welcoming,” he stresses.
The pilgrims will return home “with a double experience: first, having lived a profound experience of faith and prayer, but also being able to return filled with the beauty that this city offers, and in this sense Rome is unique in the world.”
In this Jubilee marked by wars, “the demands of hope will be felt much more strongly,” says Fisichella, not only for those who live through conflicts but also for all those who suffer.
And he recalls, as an example, “what happened a month ago in Spain, where there are still people who are suffering and who need to be given real hope for the future because they have lost family members and friends,” in relation to the serious flooding in the Valencia area.
Among the events planned, Fisichella highlights the million young people who will arrive for the Jubilee dedicated to them, or also the novelty of the one for teenagers, as well as the one dedicated to brotherhoods, in which Spain will be the protagonist.
And the Pope will be present in all of this. “It will be a very difficult task for him, but he has not backed down from anything. When I presented the draft programme in recent months, I discussed it with him and of course he participated with his suggestions. The first thing he told me, and which he had already repeated to me on other occasions, was: ‘I will not back down.'”
