Sunday's edict, known as a papal bull, called on Catholics to make a "humble recognition of our faults."

During Holy Year, the edict said, the church should "kneel before God and implore forgiveness for the past and present sins of her sons and daughters."

It said the church had to acknowledge that history "records events which constitute a counter-testimony to Christianity."

The papal bull also called for Jerusalem to be a center of interreligious peace.

"May the Jubilee serve to advance mutual dialogue until the day when all of us together — Jews, Christians and Muslims — will exchange the greeting of peace in Jerusalem," it said.