Perhaps most relevant at this time is that there is a well-known phobia fearing the arrival of the new year — neoannophobia — and as one would expect, a saint to counter this unease — St. Sylvester.

Imagine two doors before you. One wide. One narrow. You stand on the threshold. A moment of decision. The wide door hints at busy brightness behind. But the mere presence of another door is intriguing.

The best way to usher in a truly "new" year is to stop waiting for things to get better on their own, and instead recognize what is essential and reach out now to help others, Pope Francis said.

This New Year, perhaps more than most, stirs up awareness of time and its strange ways. Through the unsettling days of 2020 and 2021, some have found the time long and heavy, waiting for the lonely burdensome time to pass so they can regain their lives. For others, time has come to an end as effects of the coronavirus or other painful happenings claimed their lives. Still others have found time opening up for them, enabling them to do or explore new things. Some have spent more time in prayer.

It is with some relief that we can soon put 2021 in the proverbial rear-view mirror.

As we bask in the Christmas season and the days leading up to 2022, perhaps now is the time to reflect on this past year.

This unforgettable year, this annus horribilis, is mercifully drawing to the end, but the virus that has so consumed our lives is not.

There is always something a little magical that happens as the calendar turns to Jan. 1. ItöÏÓãÊÓƵapp like a giant eraser appears and wipes our slate clean, throwing off the dust of all that marred the previous 12 months. ItöÏÓãÊÓƵapp a new year, a fresh start, a new dawn, another shot, a blank sheet.

The early days of 2020 have already relegated many best intentions and New YearöÏÓãÊÓƵapp resolutions to the try-again-next-year bin.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis opened 2020 with a strong call to acknowledge the dignity of women, end violence against them and stop the exploitation of womenöÏÓãÊÓƵapp bodies.