5 In this regard We recall with pleasure - and many others who are now well on in years will remember the same facts - what love for St. Francis and his work was begotten among the faithful, and throughout the whole world, by the encyclical Auspicato written by Leo XIII forty-four years ago, on the recurrence of the Seventh Centenary of the Saint's birth; and how, at that time, the love thus born was manifested in a multitude of demonstrations of piety and in a happy renaissance of the spiritual life. We do not see why the selfsame results should not crown the coming celebrations which are equally as important as the preceding ones. The present condition of the Christian peoples should give us much more hope that such will be the case. On the one hand, no one is unaware of the fact that today spiritual values are much better appreciated by the masses than formerly; also that the people, taught by the experience of the past not to expect peace and security if they do not return to God, look to the Catholic Church as the one source of salvation. On the other hand, the extension to the whole world of the Jubilee Indulgences happily coincides with this centennial commemoration which itself cannot be separated from the spirit of penance and love.
Source: Rite Expiatis (Vatican.va)