Pope Francis encourages Costa Ricans to keep present “the merciful love of Our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom springs all truth, goodness, and beauty so that the laity and the consecrated continue tirelessly their evangelizing activity.”
The Holy Father joined spiritually the opening of the Jubilee Year in Costa Rica with a letter, signed by the Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, reported Vatican News.
Jubilee Year
The Jubilee Year, approved by the Apostolic Penitentiary of the Holy See, from February 16, 2020, to February 16, 2021, recalls the canonical foundation of the Ecclesiastical Province of Costa Rica by Pope Benedict XV, with the Bull Praedecessorum of 1921, which elevated the Diocese of San Jose to a Metropolitan See and created the Dioceses of Limon and Alajuela.
The three Cathedrals of the said Dioceses are the Jubilee Sees where pilgrims and faithful will be able to obtain spiritual graces and a Plenary Indulgence.
Thanksgiving
In the missive, the Holy Father greets the clergy, the Religious and the laity, who took part on February 16, 2020, in the opening of the Holy Door for the Centenary of the creation of the Ecclesiastical Province of Costa Rica.
Vatican News added that the Pontiff “unites himself spiritually to the fervent Thanksgiving to the Lord for all the fruits obtained in the course of these one hundred years, in its mission to accompany, illuminate and encourage all the sons and daughters of that Nation.”
Take the Gospel to All
The Bishop of Rome also invites Costa Ricans to take “the joy of the Gospel, particularly to the neediest and the estranged, and to give true witness of the Christian life in the different realms of society,” states the letter.
Finally, Pope Francis implores the maternal protection of Our Lady of the Angels, Patroness of Costa Rica, imparting “with affection the implored Apostolic Blessing, which he is pleased to extend to all the participants in the Solemn Celebration,” indicates the same source.
