THE JUBILEE for the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christianity in the Philippines will commence on April 4, Easter Sunday, Archbishop Romulo Valles, president of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), announced on Thursday.
In a post-CBCP plenary assembly press conference on Jan. 28, Valles said the jubilee year would close on April 18, 2022.
Conferences on Church history will be held throughout the jubilee year, Valles said.
The CBCP president also revealed that discussions were made regarding the designation of Jubilee churches in each diocese.
“The opening of the holy door will be done in the cathedrals and jubilee churches designated in each diocese,” Valles said.
In Catholic tradition, passing through the opened holy door symbolizes the “passage from sin to grace which every Christian is called to accomplish,” Pope John Paul II wrote in his papal bull or public decree Incarnationis mysterium.
In October last year, the CBCP announced that the celebration for the quincentennial would be held from April 2021 to 2022.
Since 2012, the Philippine Catholic Church has been on a “nine-year spiritual journey for the New Evangelization” to help Catholics prepare for the celebration.
The different themes each year signify a specific aspect of the Church life: Year of Integral Faith Formation (2013); Year of the Laity (2014); Year of the Poor (2015); Year of the Eucharist and the Family (2016); Year of the Parish as a Communion of Communities (2017); Year of the Clergy and Religious (2018); Year of the Youth (2019); Year of Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue (2020); and Year of Missio Ad Gentes or Mission to the Nations (2021).
