On June 28th, The Vigil of the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, the Church inaugurated the Jubilee Year of St. Paul announced by Benedict XVI last year.
Speaking at an evening prayer service the Pope said that the Apostle should serve as a model for all Christians.
"Paul is not a figure of the past that we remember with veneration," he said. "He is also our teacher, an apostle and a herald of Jesus Christ for us too."
The Pope said that the Pauline year should send a strong signal of Christian unity. In St Paul's time and in every age, repairing divisions is an urgent task.
The observance of the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul falls on a Sunday this year, and it takes the place of the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The Roman Missal contains proper prayers for both a Vigil Mass and a Mass During the Day, as well as a Preface (Peter and Paul, P 63). The Lectionary for Mass provides readings for both the Vigil Mass (no. 590) and the Mass During the Day (no. 591).
