“The Jubilee? I did not make any plans. Things just came about. I have simply let myself be guided by the Spirit”. Pope Francis took stock of the Extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy in an interview with Stefania Falasca published today in the Italian newspaper “Avvenire”. “The Church is the Gospel, not a journey of ideas”, Pope Francis remarked. “This Year of Mercy is a process that has developed over time, since the Council. Even in the ecumenical field, the journey started long ago with the steps of my predecessors. This is the journey of the Church. It is not I. I have not accelerated anything. It is just that, as we move forward, the journey seems to go faster”. “If you discover that you are much loved, then you start to overcome your bad loneliness, the segregation that leads you to hate others and yourself”, the Pope said, answering a question about what significance this Jubilee had for him: “I hope that many people have discovered that they are loved by Jesus and that they have let themselves be embraced by Him. Mercy is both the name of God and His weakness, His Achilles heel. His mercy always leads Him to forgive, to forget our sins. I like to think that the Almighty has a bad memory. Once He forgives you, He forgets. For He is pleased to forgive”.