The Shrine to St Augustine, in Ramsgate, has been selected as one of the special sites to have a Holy Door for the Year of Mercy. St Augustine’s, in the Archdiocese of Southwark, was chosen by Archbishop Peter Smith because of its status as a shrine. The door, which will be opened on January 24 at 3pm, is one of many being opened in every Catholic cathedral in the world for the first time to mark the Year of Mercy. The doors emulate the most famous Holy Door, in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. At St Augustine's there will also be a ‘Way of Mercy’ leading from the street into the churchyard, to prepare people to go through the Holy Door. Fr Marcus Holden, rector of St Augustine’s, said: “I hope that, by marking the Year of Mercy in this way, the Holy Door in Ramsgate will encourage people to engage more fully with the Works of Mercy, to look more closely at their own lives, and to encounter God’s mercy more fully. “The door will be open to everyone who wants to come through it, and I hope many people from Ramsgate and further afield will take up this wonderful opportunity.” The Holy Door in Ramsgate will be open from January 24 until November 20 2016, to coincide with the Year of Mercy. The church is the resting place of the architect Augustus Welby Pugin, who designed parts of the Houses of Parliament, including Big Ben.