My 101 Reasons for Leaving the Catholic Church:
Holy Door and Jubilees
What is it ?
Jubilee: Once every twenty-five years the Catholic Church celebrates a special "Jubilee year." The "year" begins on Christmas eve, covers the succeeding year, and ends at Epiphany (January 6) of the next year. During this favored year, Catholics are encouraged to take PILGRIMMAGES to Rome and other holy sites. By the authority of the Pope, the pilgrims receive plenary INDULGENCES if they follow specific rules set down by the Church. A plenary indulgence is the full remission of the temporal consequences of sin. This gift, doled out by the pope, waives the penalties for sin. It reduces the time that will be spent in PURGATORY. Better still, a noble pilgrim may apply the plenary indulgence to a soul suffering in purgatory, freeing their soul to heaven. Sort of a "get out of jail free card."
For the most recent Jubilee (2000), John Paul II announced the following requirements to receive a plenary indulgence:
1) Worthily celebrate sacramental CONFESSION;
2) Perform works of satisfaction required by the priest;
3) Participate in the Mass, eating the wafer (the Eucharist);
4) Offer prayers for the intentions of the Pope;
5a) Piously visit one of the following:
i) In Rome, either the Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, or one of three other basilicas;
ii) In the Holy Land, one of three basilicas;
iii) In other areas, visit a designated Cathedral or church.
5b) While there, either attend Mass, or spend some time in Eucharist adoration (the worship of bread) and the recitation of prayers to God and Mary.
In lieu of the pilgrimmage, a person will receive a plenary indulgence through practical actions which demonstate a penitential spirit reflective of the Jubilee. This would include ABSTAINING from unnecessary consumption and donating money to the poor or to good causes, along with other forms of personal sacrifice.
The Holy Door: The ceremony or sign which begins the Jubilee year is the opening of the Holy Door. From 1500 to 1975, this ceremony included the following:
1) The pope and cardinals put on special VESTMENTS in the Sistine Chapel;
2) The pope and cardinals then proceed to the Holy Door;
3) After prayer, the pope takes a silver hammer and strikes the wall covering the door three times;
4) The pope returns to his seat, while masons finish creating the orefice;
5) The pope genuflects, and is the first to pass through the Holy Door;
6) The procession files through the door toward the altar for celebration of Vespers (Mass and special prayers).
At the end of the Jubilee year, the door is closed in a special ceremony:
1) The pope enters through the Holy Door, and presides at Vespers;
2) The RELICS of VERONICA AND THE LANCE are publicly shown and venerated;
3) The celebrants proceed out of the Holy Door, with the pope last;
4) The pope blesses the stones and bricks;
5) With a trowel, he applies cement to the threshold of the Door, and sets in place three bricks and a few gold and silver coins;
6) The masons finish the work of closing the Door; and
7) The pope prays and imparts the Apostolic Blessing.
After the 1975 Jubilee, a special bronze door was erected, so that the ceremony in 2000 does not include the breaking and replacing of the wall.
How did it come about ?
The Catholic Church traces the origin of the Jubilee to the Old Testament. "You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family." Lev. 25:10. On the Day of Atonement, a ram's horn would be sounded, announcing the jubilee.
Pope Boniface VIII ordered the first Catholic jubilee. In a bull published February 22, 1300, Boniface announced "great remissions and indulgences for sins" which could be obtained "by visiting the city of Rome and the venerable basilica of the Prince of the Apostles." The pilgrim to Rome was required to confess their sins, and visit the basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul at least once a day for fifteen days. For residents of Rome, the required visits totalled thirty days. Among the visitors to Rome was one famous author -- Dante. He referred to the Jubilee in his Inferno.
Originally the Jubilee was to be celebrated every hundred years. But in 1350 Pope Clement VI declared another Jubilee so more people could avail themselves in their lifetime. In 1390 Urban VI proposed to shorten the time to 33 years, to represent the number of years of Christ's earthly life. In 1423 the ceremony of the Holy Door was initiated. Nicholas V reverted to the fifty year cycle in 1450, but Paul II began the modern tradition of Jubilees every twenty-five years in 1475.
What was the origin of ceremony of the Holy Door? In pagan times, sanctuary was available for anyone who crossed the threshold of the puerta tarpea upon the site of the Lateran. At the request of Constantine, Pope Sylvester issued a bull which proclaimed immunity from punishment for sinners who took sanctuary there. This privilege was grossly abused, so the door was walled up, only to be opened on special occasions.
Each pope has the responsibility of declaring the specific conditions related to the granting of the Jubilee indulgences. However, any pope has the prerogative of declaring special jubilee indulgences, known as "extraordinary Jubilees." Pope John Paul II declared such an extraordinary Jubilee in 1983.
Why it is wrong:
1) ...because it fosters the pagan superstition that God extends special graces on specific years;
2) ...because it promotes the unbiblical idea of indulgences for the remission of punishment, thus denying the sufficiency of Christ's atonement for sin;
3) ...because encouraging pilgrimmages for the remission of sins promotes papal tourism;
4) ...because the Pope usurps the authority of Him who truly opens and shuts the door.
Warnings from Scripture:
But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn your back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain."
Gal. 4:9-11
