Pope Francis opens ‘Holy Door’

Tens of thousands of Roman Catholics backed up for blocks at the Vatican on Tuesday for the strictest security checks in living memory as Pope Francis began a Holy Year with a call to set aside “fear and dread”.

Pope Francis launched the year-long religious event, also known as a Jubilee, by pushing open the usually bricked up bronze Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica and passing through it, following a Mass attended by about 70,000 people in the square outside, according to a Vatican estimate.

“This is the door of the Lord. Open to me the gates of justice,” the Argentin-ian pontiff said before being helped up three marble steps to push the giant bronze doors open.

Holy Year has long been expected to draw millions to Rome but is opening in the immediate aftermath of attacks in Paris and California.

From early morning, the police checked pilgrims, reporters, diplomats and even priests entering the area starting several blocks from St. Peter’s Square. Some underwent two body and bag searches as they made their way forward before passing through metal detectors.

“The risk of terrorism will never be zero, we cannot provide absolute security, but we are working to attain the level of security that people rightly ask for,” Rome police chief Franco Gabrielli said.

In his homily, Pope Francis urged the faithful to have courage in their spiritual and daily lives: “Let us set aside all fear and dread, for these do not befit men and women who are loved. “Instead, let us experience the joy of encountering that grace which transforms all things,” he said.

A frail looking former Pope Benedict (88) made one of his few appearances since his shock resignation in 2013. Benedict, who lives in seclusion in the Vatican, embraced Francis before the door.

In a break with tradition that reflected Pope Francis’s modernising instincts, the order to open the doors was delivered in Italian rather than Latin.

Many had tears rolling down their cheeks or eyes clenched shut in prayer as Francis ordered the door open for the first time since the last Jubilee, in 2000.