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Solemn rite, incense wafted from the “botafumeiro” (the cathedral’s enormous censer), three hammer blows on the new bronze Holy Door: so opened the Holy Year at Santiago de Compostela, in Spain, as hundreds of devotees crossed the threshold of the new Holy Door, reopened after five years (the last Jubilee was held in 1999). Whenever the feast of Santiago, the feast of St. James, on 25 July falls on a Sunday, the Holy Year of Compostela is celebrated. The Pope’s message to mark the occasion, read out by the archbishop of Santiago, Monsignor Julián Barrio, declared: “the pilgrim is not only a traveller, but above all a believer”. “Every attempt to debase or adulterate his specifically religious character would be a distortion of his authentic origins”, stressed the Holy Father. Archbishop Barrio for his part expressed the hope that Santiago de Compostela would become “the spiritual capital of the European Union” during 2004, and that pilgrims to the tomb of Santiago would “inwardly renew themselves, be witnesses of the Gospel and pursue their own apostolic mission”. What’s new about this particular Jubilee is the new Holy Door, which weighs 600 kilos and is the work of the young Spanish artist Suso León. The pilgrimage “for a united Europe”, promoted by the Commission of the episcopates of the European Community (COMECE), will take place at Santiago de Compostela, from 17 to 21 April. It will be followed on 22-23 April by a theological congress “Let us open our hearts” on the responsibility of Catholics for the future of the European Union.
