The Jubilee of the Missionaries of Mercy in Rome from March 28th to 30th

From Friday, March 28 to Sunday, March 30, the sixth of the great Jubilee events will take place. This celebration will be for the Missionaries of Mercy, and will see around 500 priests gather in Rome, with their colleagues and family members. Participants will come from countries on every continent including Italy, the United States, Poland, Brazil, Spain, France, Mexico, Germany, Slovakia, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Colombia, and India. Pope Francis, will not be able to attend the Jubilee in person, but will send a written message.

The Jubilee events will begin at 10am on Friday, March 28 with a moment of prayer in the Paul VI Audience Hall in the Vatican which will mark the opening of the fourth World Meeting of Missionaries of Mercy. The international conference organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization, which takes place every two years, will have as its central theme for the Jubilee gathering "Forgiveness as a source of Hope" and will include two formation sessions on the Friday.

The first ‘theological’ session will be introduced at 10:30am by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, Pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, while the second ‘pastoral’ session, starting at 12 noon, will offer participants guidelines for pastoral care.

The meeting will resume at 4pm with the celebration of the XII edition of the "24 Hours for the Lord" in the Basilica of Sant'Andrea della Valle, reserved for the Missionaries of Mercy. This Lenten initiative focused on prayer and reconciliation, was launched by the Holy Father Francis in 2013, and is celebrated in all the dioceses of the world on the eve of the Fourth Sunday of Lent, between Friday 28 and Saturday 29 March this year.

For the Jubilee Year, Pope Francis has chosen a particularly significant motto: "You are my hope" (Ps 71:5). The purpose of the event is to put the sacrament of reconciliation back at the center of the pastoral life of the Church. On the website of the Dicastery for Evangelization, parishes and Christian communities can download free resource for community celebrations of the "24 hours for the Lord".

On Saturday 29 March, between 9-10am the Missionaries of Mercy will make their pilgrimage to the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica. They will then gather to recite the Rosary at the Lourdes Grotto in the Vatican Gardens.

The Jubilee celebrations will conclude on Sunday 30 March with the celebration of Mass, presided over by Archbishop Fisichella, at the Basilica of Sant’Andrea della Valle at 10am.

Finally, on the Sunday afternoon, for the Missionaries and for anyone who wishes to join them, there will be the fifth of the Holy Year Concerts – part of the “The Jubilee is culture” series. The free orchestral concert “Missa Papae Francisci” in memory of Ennio Morricone, will be performed by the Orchestra Roma Sinfonietta, together with the Nuovo Coro Lirico Sinfonico Romano and the “Claudio Casini” Choir of the University of Rome Tor Vergata. The performance, under the baton of Maestro Gabriele Bonolis, will be held at 4pm at the Church of Santi Ambrogio e Carlo al Corso.

For more information about the Missa Papae Francisci concert in memory of Ennio Morricone, please check the concert section of the official Jubilee website.