NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

    VATICAN CITY, SEP 29 (ZENIT).- John Paul II will open the Holy Door of the four Roman patriarchal basilicas. At first it was thought the Pontiff would only solemnly open the door of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. Bishop Crescenzio Sepe, secretary of the Vatican Committee for the Preparation of the Jubilee, announced today that the Holy Father will also solemnly open the doors of St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major, and St. Paul Outside the Walls.

    It is an unprecedented event in history. On Christmas Eve, shortly after 11 p.m. Roman time, the Pontiff will inaugurate the Jubilee by opening the Vatican's Holy Door. In the afternoon of December 25, he will open the Door of St. John Lateran, the Bishop of Rome's Official See. On January 1, he will open the Holy Door of St. Mary Major. The opening of the Door of St. Paul Outside the Walls has been postponed until January 18, the beginning of the Week of Prayer for the Unity of Christians or The Octave of Church Unity.

    In previous Holy Years, the opening of these three patriarchal basilicas was carried out by Cardinal Legates. The first Pope to introduce the ritual of the opening of the Holy Door was the Spaniard, Alexander VI, on Christmas Eve, 1499.

    Another novelty of this Jubilee will be the "Te Deum" in thanksgiving for the end of the year, the century, and the millennium, in St. Peter's Basilica -- not in the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola, as has been done traditionally. On New Year's Eve the Pontiff will give his "Urbi et Orbi" blessing.

    Bishop Sepe also disclosed that the date for the "mea culpa" that the Pontiff will pronounce for the historic errors of the children of the Church has also been changed. It will not be on Ash Wednesday, as originally stated, but on the first Sunday of Lent of the year 2000. ZE99092907

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