Pope: ‘open your hearts to mercy and forgiveness’

Pope Francis opened the Holy Door in the evening on the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, which is the title under which the Basilica of St. Mary Major is dedicated. The Jubilee Year of Mercy was opened with the opening of the Holy Door at St. Peter’s on December 8th. Pope Francis said that we should open wide the doors of our heart to joy and forgiveness, conscious that we have been given new confidence and hope and thus make our daily lives a humble instrument of God’s love. He said, “It is most fitti