VATICAN CITY - God's ability to forgive "knows no limits" as his mercy frees people from bitterness and despair, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY - With the opening the Holy Door at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, Pope Francis declared that the time for tenderness, joy and forgiveness had begun.

Pope Francis on Sunday opened the Holy Door for the Jubilee Year of Mercy, which officially began last week.

On Tuesday, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Pope Francis solemnly inaugurated the Jubilee Year of Mercy with the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

“This Extraordinary Holy Year is itself a gift of grace,” the Pope said in his homily  To pass through the Holy Door means to rediscover the infinite mercy of the Father who welcomes everyone and goes out personally to encounter each of them.”

The full text of Pope Francis’ prepared homily for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and the Inauguration of the Jubilee of Mercy can be found below:

VATICAN CITY - On a cloudy, damp morning, Pope Francis' voice echoed in the atrium of St. Peter's Basilica: "Open the gates of justice." With five strong thrusts, the pope pushed open the Holy Door, a symbol of God's justice, which he said will always be exercised "in the light of his mercy."

VATICAN CITY - When Pope Francis planned the Year of Mercy and the opening of the Holy Door, he did not mean to give the starting signal for a frenzied wave of pilgrims to Rome.

Priests and religious, catechists and young people joined Pope Francis on Sunday evening for the celebration of Holy Mass in the Cathedral of Bangui, Central African Republic.  During the ceremony, the Pope opened the Holy Door of the Cathedral for the beginning of the Jubilee of Mercy. The Jubilee Year officially begins on 8 December. In his homily at the Mass the Pope spoke of the Christian vocation to love our enemies, saying it protects us "from the temptation to seek revenge and from the spiral of endless retaliation."

TORONTO - Toronto area Catholics are getting new destinations of pilgrimage with the designation of seven Holy Doors in parishes across the archdiocese for the upcoming Year of Mercy.

VATICAN CITY - Drawing on the experience of the public exposition of the Shroud of Turin, Vatican officials are adopting a reservation system for pilgrims who want to cross the threshold of the Holy Door at St. Peter's Basilica during the Year of Mercy.

If there was any doubt that Pope Francis’ central message to the Church is mercy, the Pope named after St. Francis of Assisi crushed those doubts by announcing a Holy Year of Mercy, the first extraordinary jubilee of the 21st century.