Jubilee!!
Pope Francis has declared 2025 to be a Jubilee Year. These take place every 25 years in the Church. The theme is ‘Pilgrims of Hope’.
What is a Jubilee?
The Jubilee Year is a time to re-establish a proper relationship with God, with one another, and with all of creation.
“Jubilee” is the name given to a particular year; the name comes from the instrument used to mark its launch. In this case, the instrument in question is the yobel, the ram’s horn, used to proclaim the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). This (Jewish) holiday occurs every year, but it takes on special significance when it marks the beginning of a Jubilee year.
We can find an early indication of it in the Bible: a Jubilee year was to be marked every 50 years, since this would be an “extra” year, one which would happen every seven weeks of seven years, i.e., every 49 years (cf. Leviticus 25:8-13). Even though it wasn’t easy to organise, it was intended to be marked as a time to re-establish a proper relationship with God, with one another, and with all of creation, and involved the forgiveness of debts, the return of misappropriated land, and a fallow period for the fields.
In 1300, Pope Boniface VIII called the first Jubilee, also known as a “Holy Year,” since it is a time in which God’s holiness transforms us. The frequency of Holy Years has changed over time: at first, they were celebrated every 100 years; later, in 1343 Pope Clement VI reduced the gap between Jubilees to every 50 years, and in 1470 Pope Paul II made it every 25 years. There have also been “extraordinary” Holy Years: for example, in 1933 Pope Pius XI chose to commemorate the 1900th anniversary of the Redemption, and in 2015 Pope Francis proclaimed the Year of Mercy as an extraordinary jubilee. The way in which Jubilee Years are marked has also changed through the centuries: originally the Holy Year consisted of a pilgrimage to the Roman Basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul, later other signs were added, such as the Holy Door. By participating in the Holy Year, one is granted a plenary indulgence
The 2025 Jubilee, which has the theme of “Pilgrims of Hope” will be a year of hope and trust for a world suffering the impacts of war, the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased threats to the climate.
Intended as a time of conversion and emphasis on God’s mercy and forgiveness of sins, Jubilees begin with the opening of the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica. Holy Doors at each of the four papal basilicas in Rome are destination points for pilgrims, who pass through seeking special graces.
In preparing spiritually for the 2025 Jubilee, Pope Francis has asked Catholics to:
a) Study the key documents from the Second Vatican Council, held between 1962-1965.
The four constitutions of Vatican II are:
- Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy – Sacrosanctum Concilium
- Dogmatic constitution on the Church – Lumen Gentium
- Dogmatic constitution on the Divine Revelation – Dei Verbum
- Pastoral constitution on Church in the modern world – Gaudium et Spes
There is a booklet exploring the four documents. You can download it here.
b) Begin 2024 by focusing on prayer.
The Jubilee of Hope will begin in December 2024 with Pope Francis opening the “holy door” in St. Peter’s Basilica, offering the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics the possibility of obtaining a plenary indulgence and a year of special graces. The Jubilee of Hope will end on the feast of the Epiphany in 2026.
For more information on the Vatican’s Jubilee Year go to: www.giubileo-2025.it/en
For more information on Holy Years in the Catholic Church go to: HISTORY (vatican.va)
