Conclusion of the Year of Faith

At 11:30 yesterday morning, in the John Paul II Hall at the Vatican Press Centre, there was a press conference held to present an overview of the Year of Faith Day for Contemplative Life, which will be observed on Thursday, November 21, as well as the celebrations for the conclusion of the Year of Faith which include a Meeting of catechumens with Pope Francis on Saturday, November 23, and the closing Mass which will be held on Sunday, November 24.

Present at the Press Conference this morning to contribute to the information which was shared were His Excellency, Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization; His Excellency, Jose Octavio Ruiz Arenas, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization and His Excellency, Graham Bell, Undersecretary of the same Pontifical Council.

Information provided by His Excellency, Rino Fisichella

relating to the Day of Contemplative Life,

the Meeting of catechumens with the Holy Father, and

the Year of Faith Closing Mass

The official closing of the Year of Faith will be observed this coming Sunday with a Solemn Mass in Saint Peter’s Square and the handing of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium by Pope Francis.

On Sunday, the Pontiff will hand the document symbolically to a Bishop, a priest and a deacon, however, the contents of the Exhortation will be made public next Tuesday, with the official presentation at the Holy See Press Office, in the presence of Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization; Archbishop Lorenzo Baldisseri, Secretary of the Synod of Bishops, and Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.  Archbishop Fisichella made the announcement yesterday morning during a press conference in which he outlined the details of the final celebrations of the Year of Faith.

The first event will be Pope Francis’ visit to the convent of the Camaldolese Nuns on the Aventine, planned for Thursday, November 21 at 4:45 pm. The choice of this convent is due to the fact that, since the Second Vatican Council, these nuns have revisited their Rule, seeking to return to the origins of their charism, explained Archbishop  Fisichella.

The Pope will pause in prayer with the nuns, who in recent years have opened their convent to share Lectio Divina and their table with the poor. “A help that meets the twofold need of the faith: to discover the richness of the Word of God and to share one’s table with those who have nothing to eat, added the Vatican prelate responsible for the New Evangelization.

At the end of the prayer, the Pope will meet alone with the Community for a private conversation, after which the nuns will offer the Holy Father the Letters of Sister Nazarena Crotta (1907-1990), the last recluse who lived in the convent of the Aventine, written to her spiritual Father.

The second event will take place on Saturday, November 23, with the pilgrimage of catechumens to the tomb of Saint Peter. The catechumens will gather from 47 countries worldwide and 35 of them will meet with the Holy Father. To them the Holy Father will address the traditional questions of the rite: What is your name?; What do you ask of the Church of God?; and What does the faith give you?

For many Christians, who often do not live their Baptism and for so many who feel alive the desire for God, this moment could become the occasion to rediscover the novelty of the faith. In short, a sign for all to rediscover the beauty of Baptism and new life given in Christ, Archbishop Fisichella explained.

The final ceremony of the Year of Faith, along with the Eucharistic celebration in Saint Peter’s Square at 10:30 am on Sunday, November 24, will take place with three signs, the first of which will be the exposition of the relics of Saint Peter. It is a special urn with the alleged bones of the Prince of the Apostles, which in 1971 was given in tribute to Paul VI.

The urn, which was kept in the papal apartment throughout Benedict XVI’s pontificate, in past years was exposed every June 29, on the occasion of the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, but always inside the Pope’s private chapel: next Sunday, however, the Petrine relics will be exposed for the first time to the public.

The second event will be the mentioned handing on of the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, the first Exhortation signed by Pope Francis: thus the papal document will become a mission that is entrusted to every baptized person to become an evangelizer, stressed Archbishop Fisichella.

The letter will be handed to a Bishop, a priest and a deacon chosen from among the youngest to be ordained, from Latvia, Tanzania and Australia, and to representatives of the Confirmed, a seminarian and a woman novice, a family, catechists, a blind man – to whom the Pope will hand his letter in CD-Rom form so that it can be reproduced in audio format – as well as to young people, Confraternities and Movements.

Also receiving copies of the Apostolic Exhortation will be representatives in the world of art to make evident the value of beauty as a privileged way of evangelization. Among the artists will be Etsuro Sotoo, Japanese sculptor famous for his work of the Holy Family and Anna Gulak, a young Polish painter.

Two representatives of journalism will also receive the Exhortation to attest to the great commitment and promotion carried out by those dedicated to this service, which represents increasingly a new form of culture with which the Church feels the urgency to address and feel helped and supported in the work of evangelization, stressed Archbishop Fisichella.

A third sign will be a gesture of charity in favor of the Philippine population devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, in benefit of which during the Holy Mass a collection will be taken as a contribution of the pilgrims of the Year of Faith to the many brothers and sisters who were affected by the calamity and are experiencing situations of profound need.