Vicariate of France opened the Jubilee Year.

May 14, the Vicariate of France opened the Jubilee Year in honour of Saint Michael in the Shrine of Our Lady of Bétharram.
On May 12, in the afternoon, the Religious of the Vicariate took a first step towards this solemn event with an Assembly, chaired by Fr Gaspar Fernandez, Superior General.
On Monday, after the Morning Prayer, Fr Gaspar led a meditation on the theme of the Jubilee (From the Heart of Jesus to the Heart of the world) and on the death of Saint Michael. Fr Gaspar pointed out how Saint Michael “died while seeing that the Congregation he had founded was going to disappear. But this reality contained a mystery: the configuration to Christ who became obedient to the point of death even death on a cross … Saint Michael died on the cross of obedience”.
In the afternoon Mr Roland Dubertrand, Councillor for religious affairs at Quai d’Orsay (Paris), alumnus of Betharram, gave a lecture on “French Diplomacy and Religions”.
On May 14, in Betharram there was a festive atmosphere and the community welcomed the Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, Bishop of Bordeaux who presided over the concelebration surrounded by a few Bishops, and the Betharramite Religious and many priests of the Bayonne Diocese, at the presence of many lay people, friends of Bétharram. The “Little choir of Saint Michel” led the singing during the concelebration and of the solemn vespers that closed the celebrations of these days.