NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- On Sunday, November 29, the first Sunday in Advent, a papal bull will be published, formally announcing the Grand Jubilee of the Year 2000.

      The papal document, entitled Incarnationis Mysterium, will be unveiled, and parts of it will be read, before Mass in St. Peter's basilica, at a solemn ceremony at the Holy Door. Pope John Paul II will also formally convey the document to the four patriarchal basilicas of Rome. The ceremony involved will be similar to the ceremony in which the Pope proclaimed the Holy Year of 1983.

      A papal bull is a document used to confer formal titles and proclamations, such as canonizations. The term "bull" comes from the Latin word "bulla," or seal, and refers to the papal seal which such documents carry.