VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 146   
   DATE 01-09-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - Pope's letter on the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy   
   - Pope Francis' prayer intentions for September   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Pope's letter on the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy   
    Vatican City, 1 September 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has sent a letter to   
   Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting   
   New Evangelisation, regarding the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, in which he   
   reaffirms his hope that the jubilee indulgence will lead every person to a   
   "genuine experience of God's mercy" and explains that it can also be obtained   
   by   
   incarcerated persons. In addition, he grants to all priests, notwithstanding   
   any   
   provision to the contrary, the faculty to absolve from sin those who have   
   resorted to abortion, repenting and asking forgiveness with a sincere heart,   
   and   
   establishes that those who during the Holy Year of Mercy approach the priests   
   of   
   the Fraternity of St Pius X to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation shall   
   validly and licitly receive the absolution of their sins. The following is the   
   full text of the 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. It is indeed my wish that the Jubilee be a living experience of the   
   closeness of the Father, whose tenderness is almost tangible, so that the faith   
   of every believer may be strengthened and thus testimony to it be ever more   
   effective.   
    "My thought first of all goes to all the faithful who, whether in individual   
   Dioceses or as pilgrims to Rome, will experience the grace of the Jubilee. I   
   wish that the Jubilee Indulgence may reach each one as a genuine experience of   
   God's mercy, which comes to meet each person in the Face of the Father who   
   welcomes and forgives, forgetting completely the sin committed. To experience   
   and obtain the Indulgence, the faithful are called to make a brief pilgrimage   
   to   
   the Holy Door, open in every Cathedral or in the churches designated by the   
   Diocesan Bishop, and in the four Papal Basilicas in Rome, as a sign of the deep   
   desire for true conversion. Likewise, I dispose that the Indulgence may be   
   obtained in the Shrines in which the Door of Mercy is open and in the churches   
   which traditionally are identified as Jubilee Churches. It is important that   
   this moment be linked, first and foremost, to the Sacrament of Reconciliation   
   and to the celebration of the Holy Eucharist with a reflection on mercy. It   
   will   
   be necessary to accompany these celebrations with the profession of faith and   
   with prayer for me and for the intentions that I bear in my heart for the good   
   of the Church and of the entire world.   
    "Additionally, I am thinking of those for whom, for various reasons, it will   
   be   
   impossible to enter the Holy Door, particularly the sick and people who are   
   elderly and alone, often confined to the home. For them it will be of great   
   help   
   to live their sickness and suffering as an experience of closeness to the Lord   
   who in the mystery of his Passion, death and Resurrection indicates the royal   
   road which gives meaning to pain and loneliness. Living with faith and joyful   
   hope this moment of trial, receiving communion or attending Holy Mass and   
   community prayer, even through the various means of communication, will be for   
   them the means of obtaining the Jubilee Indulgence. My thoughts also turn to   
   those incarcerated, whose freedom is limited. The Jubilee Year has always   
   constituted an opportunity for great amnesty, which is intended to include the   
   many people who, despite deserving punishment, have become conscious of the   
   injustice they worked and sincerely wish to re-enter society and make their   
   honest contribution to it. May they all be touched in a tangible way by the   
   mercy of the Father who wants to be close to those who have the greatest need   
   of   
   his forgiveness. They may obtain the Indulgence in the chapels of the prisons.   
   May the gesture of directing their thought and prayer to the Father each time   
   they cross the threshold of their cell signify for them their passage through   
   the Holy Door, because the mercy of God is able to transform hearts, and is   
   also   
   able to transform bars into an experience of freedom.   
    "I have asked the Church in this Jubilee Year to rediscover the richness   
   encompassed by the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. The experience of   
   mercy, indeed, becomes visible in the witness of concrete signs as Jesus   
   himself   
   taught us. Each time that one of the faithful personally performs one or more   
   of   
   these actions, he or she shall surely obtain the Jubilee Indulgence. Hence the   
   commitment to live by mercy so as to obtain the grace of complete and   
   exhaustive   
   forgiveness by the power of the love of the Father who excludes no one. The   
   Jubilee Indulgence is thus full, the fruit of the very event which is to be   
   celebrated and experienced with faith, hope and charity.   
    "Furthermore, the Jubilee Indulgence can also be obtained for the deceased. We   
   are bound to them by the witness of faith and charity that they have left us.   
   Thus, as we remember them in the Eucharistic celebration, thus we can, in the   
   great mystery of the Communion of Saints, pray for them, that the merciful Face   
   of the Father free them of every remnant of fault and strongly embrace them in   
   the unending beatitude.   
    "One of the serious problems of our time is clearly the changed relationship   
   with respect to life. A widespread and insensitive mentality has led to the   
   loss   
   of the proper personal and social sensitivity to welcome new life. The tragedy   
   of abortion is experienced by some with a superficial awareness, as if not   
   realising the extreme harm that such an act entails. Many others, on the other   
   hand, although experiencing this moment as a defeat, believe they they have no   
   other option. I think in particular of all the women who have resorted to   
   abortion. I am well aware of the pressure that has led them to this decision. I   
   know that it is an existential and moral ordeal. I have met so many women who   
   bear in their heart the scar of this agonising and painful decision. What has   
   happened is profoundly unjust; yet only understanding the truth of it can   
   enable   
   one not to lose hope. The forgiveness of God cannot be denied to one who has   
   repented, especially when that person approaches the Sacrament of Confession   
   with a sincere heart in order to obtain reconciliation with the Father. For   
   this   
   reason too, I have decided, notwithstanding anything to the contrary, to   
   concede   
   to all priests for the Jubilee Year the discretion to absolve of the sin of   
   abortion those who have procured it and who, with contrite heart, seek   
   forgiveness for it. May priests fulfil this great task by expressing words of   
   genuine welcome combined with a reflection that explains the gravity of the sin   
   committed, besides indicating a path of authentic conversion by which to obtain   
   the true and generous forgiveness of the Father who renews all with his   
   presence.   
    "A final consideration concerns those faithful who for various reasons choose   
   to attend churches officiated by priests of the Fraternity of St Pius X. This   
   Jubilee Year of Mercy excludes no one. From various quarters, several Brother   
   Bishops have told me of their good faith and sacramental practice, combined   
   however with an uneasy situation from the pastoral standpoint. I trust that in   
   the near future solutions may be found to recover full communion with the   
   priests and superiors of the Fraternity. In the meantime, motivated by the need   
   to respond to the good of these faithful, through my own disposition, I   
   establish that those who during the Holy Year of Mercy approach these priests   
   of   
   the Fraternity of St Pius X to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation shall   
   validly and licitly receive the absolution of their sins.   
    "Trusting in the intercession of the Mother of Mercy, I entrust the   
   preparations for this Extraordinary Jubilee Year to her protection".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Pope Francis' prayer intentions for September   
    Vatican City, 1 September 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father's universal prayer   
   intention for September is: "That opportunities for education and employment   
   may   
   increase for all young people".   
    His intention for evangelisation is: "That catechists may give witness by   
   living in a way consistent with the faith they proclaim".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 1 September 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has renewed the Special   
   Commission for the Liturgy in the Congregation for the Oriental Churches,   
   composed as follows:   
    - Archbishop Piero Marini, president;   
    - Fr. McLean Cummings, secretary;   
    - Fr. Tedros Abraha, O.F.M. Cap., member;   
    - Fr. Cesare Giraudo, S.J., member;   
    - Fr. Thomas Pott, O.S.B., member;   
    - Archimandrite Fr. Manuel Nin, O.S.B., member;   
    - Fr. Rinaldo Iacopino, S.M., member;   
    - Msgr. Paul Pallath, member.   
      
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