VATICAN CITY — Since many of the celebrations of the Our Lady of
Loreto jubilee year were grounded because of the coronavirus pandemic, Pope
Francis has extended the celebration to December 2021.
"In this difficult time for humanity, Holy Mother Church has
gifted us another 12 months to start again from Christ, allowing ourselves to
be accompanied by Mary, a sign of consolation and certain hope for all,"
said Archbishop Fabio Dal Cin, the pontifical delegate for the Shrine of Our
Lady of Loreto, Italy.
The jubilee year began Dec. 8, 2019, to mark the 100th
anniversary of the declaration of Our Lady of Loreto as the patron saint of
aviation, aviators and air travelers. According to pious tradition, Mary's
house in Nazareth was flown by angels to Italy in 1294 after a brief stop in
Yugoslavia.
Special pilgrimages and prayer services were scheduled for the
Loreto shrine, but also at military air bases and in civilian airport chapels
around the world. The jubilee celebrations were to conclude this year on the
Dec. 10 feast of Our Lady of Loreto, but many of the events never took place.
In a decree extending the jubilee, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, head
of the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican office that promotes and regulates
indulgences, said that the jubilee "unfortunately could not be celebrated
to its full extent because of the COVID-19 epidemic."
But, he said, "by special mandate of His Holiness Pope
Francis," the jubilee would be extended a year as would the possibility of
receiving an indulgence for visiting the shrine at Loreto or a designated
military or civilian airport chapel, going to confession, receiving Communion
and praying for the intentions of the pope.