First, "The Window"... Now, The Door

When you've been on this beat long enough, time only seems to fly ever more quickly.

Along these lines, hard as it is to believe, ten years ago today this 1.2 billion-member fold were sheep without a shepherd – a moment all the more powerful for the many of us who, after a 27 year reign, were experiencing it for the first time.

For a fleeting few hours, the world stopped that Friday morning (fullvid). At least 4 million thronged the streets, led by the largest gathering of heads of state and government anyone could recall in one place, all to say farewell to a figure who changed the course of history by accepting a simple call: "Follow me."

Fittingly – and many would say, providentially – the 264th Bishop of Rome returned to "the Father's House" on the eve of the Second Sunday of Easter, which he designated as the church's preeminent moment of focus on Divine Mercy.... And now, powerfully, the thread returns – this time around, the same liturgical moment (this Saturday evening) brings the formal declaration of the first Holy Year since 2000: an Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy that will (repeat: will) have programmatic consequences in the life of the church, and which might just end up being the culminating initiative of the entire Rule of Francis.

Given the intense backdrop, we'd be remiss to not go back to the start, especially for those who've forgotten....

In other words, just watch:


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