"This is why he has asked every bishop in the world to choose in his diocese a Holy Door, a Door of Mercy, so that all people may have a chance to make a pilgrimage through a Door of Mercy."
"Each of the Jubilee initiatives is an invitation to bask in what Pope Francis has called the balm of God's mercy," Fr. Geno said.
The Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization is overseeing visits to the Holy Door in St. Peter's Basilica, and encourages pilgrims to register at their
website.
"Because there's going to be so many people that'll want to get through the Holy Door, we just want to make sure that it's really prayerful," Fr. Sylva said. "It's a spiritual journey of conversion that people are making, and so it'll be reserved and people will be given enough time."
In addition to approving "missionaries of mercy" and helping pilgrims cross through the Holy Door of St. Peter's, the Pontifical Council is also tasked with charitable initiatives worldwide.
For instance, Fr. Sylva explained, the Pope has asked the council to establish an agricultural college in Burkina Faso, West Africa, which teaches young people to provide for themselves through agriculture.
"The Holy Father would like us to leave behind, after the Jubilee of Mercy, really concrete signs of God's mercy, he said.
The Pope first announced the Year of Mercy on March 13, the second anniversary of his pontifical election, during a Lenten penitential liturgy in St. Peter's Basilica.
On April 11, the Holy Father officially proclaimed the Jubilee Year with the release of the Bull of Indiction.
Mercy is a theme that is dear to Pope Francis, and is the central topic of his episcopal motto "miserando atque eligendo," which he chose when ordained a bishop in 1992.