Religion: Holy Year

His Holiness Pope Pius XII lifted a gold-encrusted hammer and struck it three times against the Holy Door of St. Peter’s.

At the signal, a contraption of ropes and pulleys drew the door backward into the church’s interior, the Pope crossed the threshold and the Holy Year of 1950 solemnly began.

During the next twelve months, nearly 900,000 pilgrims are expected to visit Italy. “There will come together . . . ” said the Pope in his annual Christmas message, “those to whom it was commanded to sow death and those who suffered the terrifying effects of these commands . . . We believe that these thousands of our children will . . . take back to their countries the strength of Christ’s peace …”