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December 8Today was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and also the opening of the Jubilee Door of St. Peter’s. The Jubilee is scheduled every 25 years and the next one was supposed to be in 2025, but Pope Francis has called a Year of Mercy Jubilee which started today. When the Jubilee door was closed in 2001, it was sealed with bricks and plaster. That was removed last week.Today, I started at 7:30 to join a huge crowd going to Piazza San Pietro. The bells started pealing at 7. Normal routes were blocked off with barricades and we had to all enter from one Main Street. Besides the barricades, the streets were blocked with either city police or military. All heavily armed. We went thru one screening blocks from St. Peter’s and then another when we got there. I got a seat and waited for the ceremony to start. It was a grey, almost rainy day. The singing started about 8am and then there was the recitation of the Rosary. I now have the ‘Hail Mary’ down in Italian. At 9:30 on the dot, Pope Francesco arrived to say the Mass. Up by the beautiful altar to the left were the cardinals and bishops all in white robes. The orchestra and choirs were on the left also. On the right were priests and dignitaries. Hundreds of them on both sides. Il Papa said the mass and hundreds of people carrying yellow and white umbrellas paraded across the front near the altar. Even though we had been given a lovely book that outlined all the words of the service and all the music, I had no idea what the umbrella people were for. Now, for those of you who might not know, the Mass is the celebration of the Communion…the bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ. Every Mass’s purpose is the sharing of the Communion. I’m thinking, there is no way 50,000 people can have communion here. Well, yes they did! All of the umbrella people were the designated communion givers. People went to the sides of the aisles, took communion and returned to their seats. All 50,000 were served in less than 30 minutes. The choir was singing beautiful music the whole time, the sun came out, the birds were flying around…as well as a helicopter that circled the square the entire time. After Mass was over, all the cardinals and bishops filed into the portico of St. Peter’s. Then Pope Francesco went in and shoved open the massive doors. Then Pope Emeritus Benedict went in and greeted Francesco. He looked very frail. One Cardinal held one arm and he carried a cane. Then Pope Francesco led all the cardinals and bishops to the main altar inside…a long walk. We could see this all on the huge TV’s set up around the square. Prayers and blessings and it was over and the bells started ringing again. We caught the bus to go meet a friend for lunch and it was very apparent that huge measures had been taken for security. At the very end of the street in front of St. Peter’s were ambulances, police vans, two Hummers that looked well fortified and there were police and military everywhere. All the huge trash bins all around the Vatican have been removed. Excellent crowd control and security. The ceremony was beautiful and very moving…probably the only opening of the Jubilee Doors I will ever see. Another amazing experience I’ve had this amazing year.