PILGRIMS to the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy churches in the Archdiocese of Manila have reached at least 100,000, as indicated by the number of “passports” that were issued since the pilgrimage in the archdiocese started on Ash Wednesday, February 10.
Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle has launched the observance of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy in the archdiocese last December 9, when he opened the Holy Door of the Manila Cathedral.
Tagle assigned five pilgrim churches in the archdiocese. Ninety pilgrim churches were chosen in other areas all over the country.
Pope Francis declared the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy beginning on December 8, 2015, when he opened the Holy Door of Saint Peter’s Basilica, and ending on November 20, 2016, marking the two great and solemn feasts of the Catholic Church: the Immaculate Conception and Christ the King, respectively.
On December 13, 2015, all the thousands of Holy Doors in cathedrals and designated churches throughout the world opened to pilgrims. The Jubilee of Mercy that Francis has called is an “Extraordinary Jubilee,” setting it apart from ordinary cycle of jubilees, or holy years, which are called every 25 years in the Catholic Church. By calling for a holy year outside of the normal cycle, a particular event or theme is emphasized.
Francis called this particular Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy to direct our attention and actions “on mercy, so that we may become a more effective sign of the Father’s actions in our lives…a time when the witness of believers might grow stronger and more effective,” the USCCB.org said.
Archdiocese of Manila
Fr. Regie Malicdem, the Archdiocese of Manila chancellor and the rector of Manila Cathedral, said the distribution of passports in the five pilgrim churches was an initiative of the archdioceses in order to have uniform procedures and activities in the pilgrim churches.
After completing the pilgrimage to the five churches, the pilgrim will receive a certificate.
Malicdem told the BusinessMirror that more than 100,000 pilgrims in the archdiocese’s were already recorded since the pilgrimage started. He said the number might be higher, since many pilgrims did not avail themselves of passport.
He explained: “The pilgrim’s passport is one creative way of encouraging people to go on pilgrimage. The number of passports released shows the response and interest of the people to embark on a pilgrimage this Year of Mercy.”
Malicdem admitted, though, that they did not expect the big number of pilgrims, so they initially only have around 50,000 passports printed.
“But we had to reprint before Holy Week,” he added.
Peachy Yamsuan, director of the Office of Communications of the Archdiocese of Manila, told the BusinessMirror that of the total number of passports released, the Manila Cathedral has distributed more than 30,000 to pilgrims. Owing to the big number of pilgrims, the archdiocese is already in its third printing of passports, she said.
Asked of the reasons why the people go on pilgrimage, Malicdem said, “Because it’s the Year of Mercy. Pilgrimages are one of the elements of a jubilee year. We are encouraged to enter through the Holy Doors.” He said other reasons, like the pilgrim’s specific intentions, may be secondary.
“During Holy Week, people make pilgrimages to the jubilee churches as part of their Visita Iglesia. But even after the Holy Week, people still come,” he said.
Some pilgrims did not register for passports or did not get their certificates, Malicdem said, maybe because of the long queue “in registering, getting passports, having them stamped, and waiting for their certificates printed.”
But he said this does not mean that those who did not have passports and certificates have deeper faith than those who have.
“It might be because of the circumstances. The grace of the pilgrimage does not depend on the passports and certificates,” he said.
In interviews with pilgrims, the BusinessMirror learned that they like the certificate as souvenir from the pilgrimage. Asked for an estimate of the total number of pilgrims until the end of the jubilee year, Malicdem said it is hard to determine the number of the final count of pilgrims.
However, he acknowledged that “pilgrims come from all ages—families, groups in church, students, etc.”
Pilgrimage activities
The five pilgrim churches in the archdiocese include the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros; National Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Makati City; Archdiocesan Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Mandaluyong City; Santuario de Santo Cristo in San Juan City; and Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Pasay City. They were selected because of their “connection to mercy.”
The passports contain the brief history of the churches, schedule of Masses and confessions, and the other activities the faithful have to perform.
The other required pilgrimage activities include entering the Holy Door of the church; silent adoration and meditation; recitation of the Year of Mercy prayer in front of the Jubilee Cross; reciting the Creed; donating to the archdiocese’s charitable programs; and other activities required by the church, the passport said.
Malicdem said pilgrims may start their pilgrimage from any of the listed churches. After completing the required activities at each church, they have to have their passports stamped at the parish office. Upon completion of the pilgrimage at the five churches, pilgrims will be issued a certificate.
He said the Jubilee of Mercy encourages the faithful to understand the practice of “merciful love” by dividing the works of mercy into two kinds: spiritual and corporal, the CBCPNews.com said.
The spiritual activities involve the prayers, confessions, attending Masses and receiving communions, while the corporal activities include donations in cash or in kind to feed the hungry, providing housing for the homeless, and other projects.
Happy, thankful pilgrims
Retired accountant Elena Villar, 71, said she was very happy after she finished the pilgrimage with her husband and friends in just one day.
“We started and accomplished it today [April 14],” Villar told the BusinessMirror, while proudly showing her certificate.
“I am happy to have accomplished the pilgrimage of the Year of Mercy. We have prayed for the dead, for the sick and to all who need prayers,” she said, as she also expressed her gratitude to have been given the opportunity “to be able to do the pilgrimage.”
Villar said they joined the pilgrimage to “increase our faith and renew our spirituality.”
Maritess Pama, a government employee, on the other hand, said she wanted to finish the pilgrimage the soonest.
“I just started last Holy Week at the Manila Cathedral. I wanted to continue. I was excited when I saw the passport. This is something new,” said Pama, a cancer survivor.
She said she wanted to finish the pilgrimage to show how thankful she is for all the blessings she received.
Symbol of journey
Tagle, in his message to the pilgrims, as written in the passport, said the passport is a “symbolic document” of “spiritual journey of prayer and sacrifice and your arrival and departure from a holy place encounter with our God of mercy, that like Him we, too, will be merciful.”
The pilgrimage, Tagle said, is “not an end in itself. It is a ‘pause’ or a ‘spiritual oasis’ as you journey toward the true destination, the Kingdom of God,” he said.
After visiting each Jubilee church, Tagle said, “uou must be propelled to embark on a journey of mercy—doing the works of mercy, imbuing your actions, attitude, lifestyle and life with the purest quality of mercy that God, through His Son Jesus Christ, has so generously shown us and gifted us.”
Special time for the Church
In decreeing this Holy Year of Mercy, Pope Francis expressed the desire that the Jubilee be “a special time for the Church, a time when the witness [to mercy] of believers might grow stronger and more effective,” the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization of the Vatican said.
The main pilgrimage destination is Rome, but Francis said pilgrimages could be made to the cathedrals of the archdioceses and dioceses, and to Jubilee churches that have been designated.
By passing through the Holy Door and making pilgrimages in jubilee churches, the devotees can gain indulgences. According to Church teaching, “An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishments due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven.”
Like previous jubilees, it is seen by the Church as a period for remission of sins and universal pardon, focusing particularly on God’s forgiveness and mercy, the Vatican News said.
Image credits: Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco