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Editorial
The Editors

This issue of SIDIC deals with the Christian Holy Year and the biblical jubilee. Pope Paul VI declared 1975 a Holy Year, stressing that it should be a year of reconciliation and interior renewal. This will be the twenty-sixth time, since Boniface VIII proclaimed the first Holy Year in 1300, that the Catholic Church has celebrated this religious event. Throughout this long tradition the religious and liturgical expressions of the Holy Year have often been modified by historical circumstances and the spiritual climate of the period. However, two constant factors have always been: pilgrimage to the tombs of the apostles Peter and Paul in Rome and renewal of life. Many people today, both Catholic and non-Catholic, do not see much meaning in the traditional Holy Year celebrations and are doubtful of their spiritual value. The religious climate of our time is, in fact, undergoing a profound change. The ecumenical mentality, in particular, is not at ease in a celebration that seems too « devotional » and outmoded. On the other hand, the new openness of Catholics to others, the new possibilities for human relations and religious dialogue, afford an opportunity of deepening the meaning of the Holy Year and its significance for man today. The editors of SIDIC have therefore thought it useful to present a few considerations which might contribute to this deeper understanding.
Obviously it is Catholics who are directly concerned by the celebration of a Holy Year. But it is becoming more and more clear that what happens in one religious community touches the faithful of other communities and religions. Some people are beginning to re-discover the profound link be tween the Holy Year and the biblical jubilee, rich in spiritual and social ramifications. The celebration of the Holy Year could become truly a return to the biblical and Jewish sources of the Christian Faith (a return already recommended by Pope Pius XI in the bull proclaiming the Holy Year of 1933). Pilgrimages to the tombs of the Apostles in Rome could be extended to include a visit to Jerusalem, thus underlining the awareness of Christianity's biblical roots. Already, ecumenical pilgrimages, comprising Christians of different denominations or Christians and Jews, are being organized for 1975. Such shared experience will hopefully bring to light different dimensions of the Holy Year and of biblical faith.
Through these experiences and re-discoveries, then, not only real reconciliation but also a profound renewal of life and of biblical perspective can be envisioned. An understanding of the central themes of the Holy Year should offer new areas of reflection to anyone seeking the Lord and the signs of his presence and action in history.