Wearing a white apron over his white robes, Pope Pius XI stood before a doorway in the portico of St. Peter's on Easter Monday. Chanting prayers, he grasped a golden trowel, pushed three gilded bricks in place, applied three pats of mortar to them. Thus did he formally close the "Holy Door" and bring to an end the "Holy Year of Human Redemption" celebrating the 1,900th anniversary of Christ's death (TIME, April 3, 1933). During the year 1,200,000 Pilgrims had come to Rome, gaining full jubilee indulgence for their sins by visiting Rome's...
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