EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The Diocese of El Paso is celebrating the beginning of the Jubilee Year with a kickoff event and pilgrimage on Saturday, Jan. 4.
The gathering begins at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 4 in the parking lot behind Cathedral High School and will move to the front of St. Patrick Cathedral in Central El Paso. A Mass will then be held at the cathedral celebrating Epiphany.
According to the Diocese, in a ceremony on Christmas Eve, Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to officially begin the Jubilee Year. The only Holy Doors that will be opened during Jubilee Year will be in the four major Basilicas of Rome.
These pilgrimages will also occur at the San Pedro Maldonado Parish in El Paso and in the Our Lady of Peace Parish in Alpine, so that “the Diocese can provide an opportunity to pray in devotion to San Pedro de Jesus Maldonado and to promote prayers for peace around the world,” the Diocese said.
According to the Diocese, the Jubilee Year is a year focused on hope and the pilgrimage symbolizes the hope that Christ brings.
For those who cannot go on a pilgrimage to Rome, the Catholic Church is planning a pilgrimage to a designated church in each diocese around the world, according to the El Paso Diocese.
People who cannot leave their residences — cloistered nuns and monks, the elderly, the sick, prisoners and those who provide continuous service to the sick — can “spiritually join a pilgrimage and receive the indulgence according to the norms,” the Diocese said.
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