Jubilation! Papal Jubilees Past and Present

Jubilation! Papal Jubilees Past and Present

With a joyful Papal Bull, Pope Francis declared this year a Jubilee Year of Mercy, a year of indulgence, where pilgrimage can lead to the forgiveness of sins and freedom from “every residue left by the consequences of sin.” Is this just a papal “Get Out of Purgatory Free” card? Federico Canaccini will take us back to Pope Boniface VIII’s first Papal Jubilee in 1300 and explore the context, history and meanings of such extraordinary papal promises.

Tuscan by birth but Roman by residence, Federico Canaccini is the author of several books on medieval history, including his recent book on the Papal Jubilee of 1300, Al cuore del primo Giubileo. Bonifacio VIII e l’Antiquorum habet (Lateran University Press, Rome), commissioned especially for this Year of Mercy. He was the recipient of a Fulbright award in 2013, and has taught at Università Telematica Internazionale UNINETTUNO in Rome, and Catholic University of America and will be a Visiting Research Collaborator at Princeton in the fall.

Co-sponsored by the Department of History, the Scott Center for Spiritual and Religious Life, the Department of Italian, and the Newman Club Catholic Student Organization.