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Pope Francis announced a Holy Year of Mercy, beginning 8 December 2015 (Feast of the Immaculate Conception) and continuing until 20 November 2016 (Solemnity of Christ the King). To mark the Jubilee of Mercy, ten stamps (two stamps each on five different occasions from 19 November 2015 to 17 November 2016) were issued focusing on the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy. Four commemorative Jubilee of Mercy stamps were issued to date. On 10 May 2016, two additional stamps, "clothe the naked" and "shelter the homeless", were issued and reviewed below. The Vatican issued two additional stamps on two later dates during 2016 to complete the stamp series to recognize the Jubilee. The two Corporal Works of Mercy stamps mark the duties to clothe the naked (€0,95) and to shelter the homeless (€1,00). The stamps were designed by French artist David Maraskin and were printed in sheets of ten. Compared to the more "classic" Corporal Works of Mercy stamps (1960), these issues place Christian acts of mercy in contemporary scenes such as a homeless shelter where clothing is provided to persons living in a tent or a couple welcoming a mother, father, and two children into their home—both contemporary scenes. The scriptural basis for such actions is Christ's words in Matthew Ch. 25—serving the "least brothers of mine, you did it for Me." These stamps obviously match concerns for contemporary religious, social, and political issues, associated with the Corporal Works of Mercy today. Vatican City issued stamps commemorating the Corporal Works of Mercy in 1960, a set of definitive stamps based on the terra cotta designs of Giovanni della Robbia from the Ospedale del Ceppo in Pistoria (Tuscany). View the reference below for an interesting article on Della Robbia and the 1960 stamps that appeared in the 2014 Vatican Notes: Volume: 62 Issue: 359 Page: 16-25. Reference: The Della Robbia Family - Art and Philately Technical Details: Scott Catalogue - 1624 - 1625 Date Issued - 10 May 2016 Face Value - €0,95, €1,00 Perforations - 14x15 Printing Process - Offset Printer - BDT (Ireland) Max Printed - 150,000 |
| (Source - Vatican Notes: Volume: 64 Issue: 369 Page: 4-6) |
