Jubilee 2025
Pilgrims of Hope
In his announcement of the Jubilee Year 2025, Pope Francis writes: “Everyone knows what it is to hope. In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire
and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring.”
The Jubilee Year has its roots in the Old Testament when God instructed the children of Israel through Moses to count every fiftieth year as sacred (Lev 25:10).
Since 1300, the Roman Catholic Church has observed Ordinary Jubilee Years at regular intervals (every 25 years since 1470) and Extraordinary Jubilee Years (most recently, the Year of Mercy in 2016). Whether Ordinary or Extraordinary, the purpose of any Jubilee year is to pause, pray, and give glory to God.
The Scriptures envision hope as “an anchor for our soul” (Heb 6:19) by which we “hold fast” to the promise of eternal life “that lies before us” (Heb 6:18). Those who have hope—a desire for heaven and trust in God’s promise of eternal life—are pilgrims journeying in confidence toward their true home in Heaven.
In Spes non confundit, the document officially announcing the Jubilee Year, Pope Francis tells us that our witness as a pilgrim Church is like “leaven of authentic hope” in the world:
“The coming Jubilee will thus be a Holy Year marked by the hope that does not fade, our hope in God … May the witness of believers be for our world a leaven of authentic hope, a harbinger of new heavens and a new earth (cf. 2 Pet 3:13), where men and women will dwell in justice and harmony, in joyful expectation of the fulfillment of the Lord’s promises.”
The Jubilee Year officially began on December 24, 2024, when Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. It will conclude on January 6, 2026.
You can participate in the Jubilee Year of Hope by making a pilgrimage to a designated Holy Door in Rome or our Cathedral, receiving the sacraments of
Confession and the Eucharist, performing works of mercy, deepening your prayer life, and engaging in acts of charity. Stay connected with our Cathedral for special events, pilgrimages, and opportunities to grow in faith as pilgrims of hope!
An indulgence is the remission of the temporal punishment (the effects of sin that linger in us) caused by sin. Because sin is a preference for self-love, it leaves behind an unhealthy attachment to (or a disordered love for) earthly things, even after it is forgiven. The Church teaches that these earthly attachments can be purified either here on earth (through an indulgence) or after death in Purgatory. God’s abundant mercy is such that he offers to free us from earthly attachments through the granting of indulgences by means of heavenly remedies, such as prayers, pilgrimages, devotions, and works of mercy.
In addition to watching this page as throughout the year for more information, events, and resources, please also visit the official Jubilee pages of the Vatican and United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Father in heaven,
may the faith you have given us
in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother,
and the flame of charity enkindled
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,
reawaken in us the blessed hope
for the coming of your Kingdom.
May your grace transform us
into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.
May those seeds transform from within both humanity
and the whole cosmos
in the sure expectation
of a new heaven and a new earth,
when, with the powers of Evil vanquished,
your glory will shine eternally.
May the grace of the Jubilee
reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope,
a yearning for the treasures of heaven.
May that same grace spread
the joy and peace of our Redeemer
throughout the earth.
To you our God, eternally blessed,
be glory and praise for ever.
Amen.
