The Holy Father has announced that 2025 will be a Jubilee Year, something which happens every 25 years. The theme for Jubilee 2025 is “Pilgrims of Hope,” and it will be a year of hope for a world suffering the impacts of war, the ongoing effects of COVID-19 pandemic, and the climate crisis.
The Jubilee Year is a special year of grace, in which the Church offers the faithful the possibility of obtaining a plenary indulgence (a grace granted by the Church to remove the temporal punishment due to sin.) Traditionally, the Jubilee Year begins just before Christmas and ends on the Epiphany of the following year.
Pope Francis has asked that 2024 be marked as a Year of Prayer – a time to re-establish a proper relationship with God and with one another prior to the Jubilee Year. In preparation for Jubilee 2025 in the local Church, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has prepared several documents, attached below. These include a prayer for the Jubilee, Calendar of Events, and a Jubilee Information Sheet.
The Solemn Opening of the Holy Doors
In the words of Pope Francis: “May the Jubilee be a time to rediscover, proclaim, build hope!”
• Pope Francis announced that the Jubilee Year will begin with the opening of the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2024.
• On December 29, 2024, Pope Francis will open the Holy Door of the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, the Cathedral of Rome. On the same day, every Cathedral and co-Cathedral throughout the world will have Mass celebrated by the local Bishop to mark the opening of the Jubilee.
• On the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, January 1, 2025, Pope Francis will open the Holy Door for the Basilica of St. Mary Major, with the Holy Door for the Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls being opened on Sunday, January 5, 2025, the Vigil of Epiphany.
• “In the course of the year,” Pope Francis writes, “every effort should be made to enable the People of God to participate fully in its proclamation of hope in God’s grace and in the signs that attest to their efficacy.”
• The Jubilee will end in the particular Churches throughout the world on December 28, 2025, with the Holy Doors of St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major, and St. Paul’s Outside the Walls being closed on that same date.
• And finally, the Jubilee Year will draw to a close in Rome on the Solemnity of Epiphany, January 6, 2026.
Written by Sr. Marie Gagliano, a member of the Religious Teachers Filippini, was the Associate Superintendent of the Archdiocese of Newark for 35 years and is a current member of the Admissions and Development staff at Villa Victoria Academy. Sr. Marie has degrees from Marywood University (BS) and Rider University (MA).