Jubilee Year 2025 – Pilgrims of Hope
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What Is a Jubilee Year?
A Jubilee Year is traditionally proclaimed by the Universal Church every 25 years. It is a particular year set aside to encourage the faithful to embark on pilgrimages, to repent of their sins and forgive the sins of others, and to renew a focus on the spiritual life. In the Hebrew tradition, as recorded in Leviticus, a Jubilee was celebrated every 50 years with the freeing of slaves and the forgiveness of debts. In 1300, Pope Boniface VIII instituted the first Christian Jubilee, and since then the Church has designated each new Jubilee as a special year of grace and forgiveness, offering the faithful an opportunity to obtain a plenary indulgence.
The 2025 Jubilee will be centered on the theme “Pilgrims of Hope.” As His Holiness Pope Francis so beautifully expressed it: "We must fan the flame of hope that has been given us, and help everyone to gain new strength and certainty by looking to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart and far-sighted vision." The Jubilee begins on December 24, 2024, with the official Opening of the Holy Door of Saint Peter’s Basilica, and runs to January 6, 2026, the Feast Day of Epiphany, with the Closing of the Holy Door. To learn more about the tradition of the Opening and Closing of the Holy Door.
#Preparing for the Jubilee Year
Pope Francis declared that 2024 be marked as a year dedicated to prayer in preparation for the Jubilee. Dioceses and parishes are invited to promote initiatives to remind people of the centrality of both individual prayer and community prayer. The Year of Prayer is, in the Pope's words, focused on “rediscovering the great value and absolute need for prayer, prayer in personal life, in the life of the Church, prayer in the world.”
To help mark this year more fruitfully, the Dicastery for Evangelization has released a wealth of resources, including a series of “Prayer Notebooks,” which draw on the many forms of prayer found in the rich Catholic tradition. You can learn more about purchasing the Notebooks on the Vatican's Jubilee 2025 website here. You can learn more about the preparations in this guide, “Teach Us to Pray” - Living the Year of Prayer in Preparation for Jubilee 2025.
