Vatican City, Apr 24, 2016 / 04:53 am
While Rome is always a popular destination for tourists, with millions of visitors annually, the Eternal City this year will be swarming with even more sightseers who want to make a pilgrimage to the city's Holy Doors for the Jubilee Year of Mercy.
The Holy Year, which takes place Dec. 8, 2015-Nov. 20, 2016, will draw countless pilgrims to Rome, which is why Vatican journalist Joan Lewis decided to write a field guide for visitors, called "A Holy Year in Rome: the Complete Pilgrim's Guide for the Jubilee Year."
"The idea for the book came to me the very day Pope Francis announced it - March 13, 2015," said Joan Lewis, Rome bureau chief for EWTN Global Network.
For pilgrims traveling to Rome, the Holy Year of Mercy "is a profoundly rewarding spiritual journey, an occasion to gain special graces and indulgences such as when you walk through the holy doors of the four papal basilicas," she told CNA.