VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - # 220
DATE 09-12-2015

Summary:
- Shine like beacons of God's mercy in the world
- Francis opens the Holy Door: mercy must precede judgement
- Angelus: the Solemnity of the Immaculate reminds us that mercy is all
- Homage to Mary Immaculate: I come on behalf of families, the elderly, the
incarcerated, and those from faraway lands
- Adoption by Moneyval of Second Progress Report of the Holy See and Vatican
City State
- Other Pontifical Acts

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 Shine like beacons of God's mercy in the world
 Vatican City, 9 December 2015 (VIS) - Pope Francis dedicated today's general
audience, the first of the Holy Year, to explaining why he convoked a Jubilee
of
Mercy. "The Church needs this extraordinary moment", he explained. "In our time
of profound change, the Church is called upon to offer her special
contribution,
making visible the signs of God's presence and closeness. And the Jubilee is a
propitious time for all, as contemplating Divine Mercy, that exceeds all human
limits and shines onto the darkness of sin, we can be surer and more effective
witnesses".
 "Celebrating a Jubilee of Mercy means restoring the specifics of Christian
faith to the centre of our personal life and of our communities. ... This Holy
Year is offered to us so that we are able to experience in our life the sweet
and gentle touch of God's forgiveness, His presence next to us and His
closeness, especially in our moments of greatest need. ... This Jubilee is
therefore a special moment for the Church to learn to choose solely 'what God
likes the most'. ... Forgiving His children, having mercy on them, so that they
can in turn forgive their brethren, to shine like beacons of God's mercy in the
world. ... The Jubilee will be a propitious moment for the Church if we learn
to
choose what God likes the most, without giving in to the temptation to think
that there is something else more important or that takes priority. Nothing is
more important than choosing what God likes most, His mercy".
 "The necessary work of renewing institutions and structures of the Church is
also a way that can lead us to a more lively and life-giving experience of
God's
mercy that alone can ensure that the Church is that city on the mount that
cannot remain hidden. If we should forget, even for just a moment, that mercy
is
what God likes the most, all our efforts would be in vain, as we would become
slaves to our institutions and our structures, no matter how reformed they may
be".
 The Pope emphasised that the Church's aim during this Holy Year is to
"strongly
feel the joy of being found by Jesus, Who like the Good Shepherd has come in
search of us as we were lost. ... In this way we strengthen in ourselves our
certainty that mercy can truly contribute to building a more human world.
Especially in these times of ours, in which forgiveness is a rare guest in the
circles of human life, the call for mercy becomes more urgent, and this is true
in all places: in society, in institutions, at work and in the family".
 Before concluding, he commented that while there appear to be many other needs
more urgent than that of mercy, at the root of the negation of mercy there is
always self-love, "which results in the pursuit of self-interest and the
accumulation of honours, riches or worldliness. There are so many
manifestations
of self-love, "that make mercy foreign to the world" that often we are not even
able to recognise them as limitations and sins. He concluded, "we must
recognise
that we are sinners, so as to strengthen our certainty of divine mercy".

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 Francis opens the Holy Door: mercy must precede judgement
 Vatican City, 8 December 2015 (VIS) - This morning at 9.30, in the presence of
60 thousand faithful in St. Peter's Square, the Holy Father celebrated Holy
Mass
on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. The celebration preceded the
opening of the Holy Door, the gesture with which the Extraordinary Jubilee of
Mercy began. In his homily the Pope spoke about the fullness of grace as
revealed in Mary, which is capable of transforming the heart. He described the
Holy Year as a gift of grace that leads us to discover the depth of the
Father's
mercy and, finally, he recalled the other door opened to the world by the
Vatican Council II fifty years ago, allowing the Church to encounter the men
and
women of our time.
 The following is the full text of the homily:
 "In a few moments I will have the joy of opening the Holy Door of Mercy. We
carry out this act - as I did in Bangui - so simple yet so highly symbolic, in
the light of the word of God which we have just heard. That word highlights the
primacy of grace. Again and again these readings make us think of the words by
which the angel Gabriel told an astonished young girl of the mystery which was
about to enfold her: 'Hail, full of grace'.
 The Virgin Mary was called to rejoice above all because of what the Lord
accomplished in her. God's grace enfolded her and made her worthy of becoming
the Mother of Christ. When Gabriel entered her home, even the most profound and
impenetrable of mysteries became for her a cause for joy, a cause for faith, a
cause for abandonment to the message revealed to her. The fullness of grace can
transform the human heart and enable it to do something so great as to change
the course of human history.
 The feast of the Immaculate Conception expresses the grandeur of God's love.
Not only does he forgive sin, but in Mary he even averts the original sin
present in every man and woman who comes into this world. This is the love of
God which precedes, anticipates and saves. The beginning of the history of sin
in the Garden of Eden yields to a plan of saving love. The words of Genesis
reflect our own daily experience: we are constantly tempted to disobedience, a
disobedience expressed in wanting to go about our lives without regard for
God's
will. This is the enmity which keeps striking at people's lives, setting them
in
opposition to God's plan. Yet the history of sin can only be understood in the
light of God's love and forgiveness. Sin can only be understood in this light.
Were sin the only thing that mattered, we would be the most desperate of
creatures. But the promised triumph of Christ's love enfolds everything in the
Father's mercy. The word of God which we have just heard leaves no doubt about
this. The Immaculate Virgin stands before us as a privileged witness of this
promise and its fulfilment.
 This Extraordinary Year is itself a gift of grace. To pass through the Holy
Door means to rediscover the infinite mercy of the Father who welcomes everyone
and goes out personally to encounter each of them. It is he who seeks us! It is
he who comes to encounter us! This will be a year in which we grow ever more
convinced of God's mercy. How much wrong we do to God and his grace when we
speak of sins being punished by his judgement before we speak of their being
forgiven by his mercy! But that is the truth. We have to put mercy before
judgement, and in any event God's judgement will always be in the light of his
mercy. In passing through the Holy Door, then, may we feel that we ourselves
are
part of this mystery of love, of tenderness. Let us set aside all fear and
dread, for these do not befit men and women who are loved. Instead, let us
experience the joy of encountering that grace which transforms all things.
 Today, here in Rome and in all the dioceses of the world, as we pass through
the Holy Door, we also want to remember another door, which fifty years ago the
Fathers of the Second Vatican Council opened to the world. This anniversary
cannot be remembered only for the legacy of the Council's documents, which
testify to a great advance in faith. Before all else, the Council was an
encounter. A genuine encounter between the Church and the men and women of our
time. An encounter marked by the power of the Spirit, who impelled the Church
to
emerge from the shoals which for years had kept her self-enclosed so as to set
out once again, with enthusiasm, on her missionary journey. It was the
resumption of a journey of encountering people where they live: in their cities
and homes, in their workplaces. Wherever there are people, the Church is called
to reach out to them and to bring the joy of the Gospel, and the mercy and
forgiveness of God. After these decades, we again take up this missionary drive
with the same power and enthusiasm. The Jubilee challenges us to this openness,
and demands that we not neglect the spirit which emerged from Vatican II, the
spirit of the Samaritan, as Blessed Paul VI expressed it at the conclusion of
the Council. May our passing through the Holy Door today commit us to making
our
own the mercy of the Good Samaritan".
 Following the Holy Mass, the Pope, followed by the cardinals, bishops and

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