Rome Reshaped: Jubilees 1300-2000

During the Jubilee Year 2000, the Vatican and the city of Rome will seek to reaffirm their universal relevance to the Catholic church, and to the world, as they have done for each Holy Year since 1300. The year 2000 is the first Jubilee to coincide with a millennium, and it is expected to inspire the world's largest-ever pilgrimage, bringing some thirty million visitors to Rome. What might these contemporary pilgrims find, other than the world's largest traffic jam? This book's long historical sweep is dotted with intriguing personalities and episodes. Each Jubilee is set in the context of its effect on the church and on Rome, with particular attention to the reactions of the pilgrims, many of them kings, queens and emperors. In telling the history of past Jubilees, it clarifies what is innovative about this Holy Year. This book is a must for anyone interested in Jubilee 2000.