Pope tells Church to embrace modern world as he embraces history

Pope Francis on Dec. 8 launched an extraordinary Catholic Jubilee year by opening a "Holy Door" in the walls of St Peter's, embracing a 700-year-old tradition while urging the Church to reach out and embrace the modern world with mercy.

"This is the door of the Lord. Open to me the gates of justice," the Argentinian pontiff said before being helped up three marble steps to push the giant bronze doors open.
 
In a break with tradition that reflected Francis's modernising instincts, the order to open the doors was delivered in Italian rather than Latin.
 
The 78-year-old then paused on the threshold of the renaissance basilica for two minutes of silent prayer before walking inside in an act to be carried out by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims in the coming months.
 
Francis was followed through the door by his predecessor, the now-retired Benedict XVI, 88, and by hundreds of cardinals, bishops and male and female members of religious orders.
 
Clutching a walking stick in his right-hand and looking extremely pale, Benedict was helped into the basilica on the arm of a young cleric.
 
Amid heightened security following recent terror attacks around the world, the Vatican said 70,000 pilgrims had packed into St Peter's square and surrounding streets to watch Francis open the usually bricked-up wall in the facade of the renaissance basilica.
 
Many had tears rolling down their cheeks or eyes clenched shut in prayer as Francis ordered the door open for the first time since the last Jubilee, in 2000.
 
The first pilgrims had been in the square since before dawn in search of a prime spot to watch the latest enactment of a ceremony laden with religious symbolism.
 
"To pass through the...