VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As the early morning sun crept up over the horizon, a warm rosy glow washed over the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica — the destination for thousands of pilgrims one chilly January morning.
More than 10,000 people from 138 countries had signed up to take part in the Jan. 24-26 Jubilee of the World of Communications, which included a meeting and Mass with Pope Francis, conferences and breakout sessions with others working in media, and a half-mile pilgrimage of prayer along the large boulevard to St. Peter’s Square.
Smaller, more manageable groups were created by dividing them according to language with staggered start times. Each group had someone volunteer to carry the wooden Jubilee crucifix and lead the prayers.
Groups that headed out at daybreak Jan. 25 enjoyed a tourist-free city, populated only by a few joggers, diesel fume-belching street cleaning vehicles and a flurry of gulls swooping over bubbling fountains.
Pilgrims from different countries in one English-speaking group showed excitement mixed with joy and reverence as they got closer to the basilica and the Holy Door. Even an unexpected detour to scan bags and go through metal detectors did not ruin the mood as they quickly regrouped, resumed the prayers or tapped “record” on cellphones to keep capturing the special moment.
Many of the faithful touched the bronze cross embedded in the door jamb as they crossed the threshold, which represents leaving behind sin and moving toward grace and spiritual renewal.
Going through the Holy Door was “something very special. I think I cried for 10 minutes afterward,” Mara Bandeniece told Catholic News Service.
“Also seeing the inside of the basilica, (I was) very, very touched by the art and just in awe. It was very, actually, overwhelming, but I think I will remember it for a long time,” she said in the Paul VI Audience Hall after the pilgrimage Jan. 25.
Bandeniece, who uses creative projects to evangelize young people, and Marija Mezote, a young Catholic film director, were both invited from Latvia to attend a special meeting for young communicators during the Jubilee.
“I got inspired again to be with so many young, creative young people who aren’t scared to share their creative sides as their vocation. Sometimes we’re maybe scared to be very, very creative and bold, but it’s so nice to see other young people doing the same,” Bandeniece said.
Mezote said the Jubilee has been an important personal journey of faith, and, equally powerful, has been meeting other young communicators to “talk about the challenges and the meaning and the value of Catholic and Christian communication in general in the world.”
Daniella Zsupan-Jerome, assistant professor of pastoral theology at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, told CNS she is teaching a course this semester on pastoral communications, and she will be taking everything she learned during the week back to her students.
The late Cardinal Avery Dulles once said, “The church is communications,” so the Catholic Church must “be present in the world of communications and really claim its place,” she said.
“We can’t not be a part of our broader media culture, our digital culture,” she said. But what does have to be asked and decided is “what is the opportunity there for witness, for faith” and for presenting a “kind of communication that builds hope?”
“How do we prophetically resist the challenges when it comes to lack of truthfulness … ugly conversations” and polarization, Zsupan-Jerome said.
“To step away from it and say this is all too depraved is a mistake. I think rather to continue to persist with it as people of faith is essential because it’s part of who we are as church. It’s our mission, it’s our identity,” she said.