Jubilee 2025
The Jubilee is a time to reestablish relationships with God, others, and creation, and the theme for 2025 is “Pilgrims of Hope”. The event will begin with the opening of the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve, 2024, and conclude with the closing of the door on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 2026. The Jubilee also includes several special events and activities in Rome and Vatican City.
Have you downloaded the Jubilee (Iubilaeum25) App yet? The app, which makes registration for Jubilee events easier, can be downloaded from the App Store for iOS and from the Play Store for Android. By using the app, which is available in six languages, you can access all the latest news on the Jubilee, register as a pilgrim for the Holy Year and obtain the Pilgrim Card for free. Once registered on the portal, you will also be able to register for Jubilee events and pilgrimages to each of the Holy Doors. By navigating the intuitive and simple menu, the user can ‘save’ events they are interested in, easily access their personalized area and get the unique QR code needed to pass through the Holy Door. We highly recommend downloading this App for yourself or family and friends who will be visiting during the Holy Year.
All about the Jubilee
- Pilgrimage Guide by Father Paul Robichaud, CSP
- What is a Jubilee?
- The Papal Bull announcing the Jubilee
- Holy Doors and Indulgences
- Schedules for the Four Basilicas
- What is offered at St. Patrick’s Church during the Jubilee
- Spiritual Walking Tours, Extended Jubilee Schedule for February, March and May of 2025
What is a Jubilee?
“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.
Quoting the prophet Isaiah, the Gospel of Luke describes Jesus’ mission in this way: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord,” (Luke 4:18-19; cf. Isaiah 61:1-2). Jesus lives out these words in his daily life, in his encounters with others and in his relationships, all of which bring about liberation and conversion.
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.
Papal Bull
Tradition dictates that each Jubilee is proclaimed through the publication of a Papal (or Pontifical) ‘Bull of Indiction’. By ‘Bull’ is meant an official document, generally written in Latin, bearing the seal of the Pope, the shape of which gives its name to the document itself. In the past the seal was usually made of lead and bore, on the front, the image of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, founders of the Church of Rome, and, on the back, the name of the current Pontiff. Later an ink stamp replaced the metal seal, which, however, continued to be used for more important documents.
Each Bull is identified by its initial words. For example, Saint John Paul II proclaimed the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 with the Bull Incarnationis Mysterium (The Mystery of the Incarnation), while Pope Francis proclaimed the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy (2015-2016) with the Bull Misericordiae vultus (The face of mercy). The Bull announcing the Jubilee, which indicates the dates of the beginning and end of the Holy Year, is usually issued the previous year, coinciding with the Solemnity of the Ascension. For the 2025 Jubilee, publication is expected on May 9, 2024.
Holy Doors and Indulgencies
The Opening of the Holy Doors:
December 24, 2024: The first Holy Door will be opened by Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Basilica (San Pietro) on Christmas Eve. It will be the last one to be closed on Epiphany this year to usher in the beginning of the Jubilee Year worldwide. This door will be the last one to be closed on the feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 2026, which will be the last day of the holy year.
On December 26, 2024, the feast of St Stephen, Pope Francis will open a Holy Door in the Roman prison of Rebibbia, marking a historic moment in the history of Jubilee years. It will be the first time that – in addition to the Holy Doors opened in the four Roman Papal Basilicas – one will also be opened in a penal institution too. The announcement was made by the Pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, during a press conference on October 28. The Pro-prefect emphasized that Rebibbia, on December 26, should be seen as “a symbol of all the prisons in the world”.
On December 29, 2024, the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Pope Francis will open the Holy Door at the Basilica of St. John Lateran (San Giovanni in Laterano).
On January 1, 2025, the Pope will open the Holy Door at the Basilica of St. Mary Major (Santa Maria Maggiore) on the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.
On January 5, 2025, the Holy Father will open the Holy Door at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls (San Paolo fuori le Mura). In Italy, the Second Sunday After Christmas is celebrated that Sunday. January 6 is the traditional fixed date for the Epiphany of the Lord here in Rome.
Jubilee 2025, how to obtain the plenary indulgence (as written on the Vatican Jubilee website:)
The indulgence, a priceless gift of divine mercy, is one of the special ‘signs’ of the Jubilee Year. On Monday 13 May the Apostolic Penitentiary published the Norms on the granting of Indulgences during the Jubilee of 2025. The indulgence, they state, (quoting Pope Francis in the Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee, Spes non confundit), is ‘a Jubilee grace’ which ‘allows us to discover how limitless God’s mercy is.’ For the next Jubilee, at the express wish of the Holy Father, the Penitentiary intends to ‘nourish the pious desire to obtain the indulgence’ and for this reason it has established norms and guidelines for pilgrims.
All the ‘truly repentant’ faithful, ’moved by a spirit of charity, who, purified through the sacrament of penance and refreshed by Holy Communion, will be able to receive the indulgence, with the remission and forgiveness of sins’ say the Norms adding that they should also pray according to the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff. Following the provisions of the Penitentiary, signed by the Major Penitentiary, His Eminence, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, the indulgence can be applied ‘in the form of suffrage to the souls in Purgatory’.
The faithful, ‘pilgrims of hope’, will be able to obtain the Indulgence by undertaking a pilgrimage to any sacred Jubilee site, to at least one of the four Major Papal Basilicas of Rome, to the Holy Land or to other designated ecclesiastical sites, and taking part in a moment of prayer, a liturgical celebration or celebrating the sacrament of reconciliation. The indulgence can also be obtained by ‘devoutly visiting any Jubilee site’ and taking part in Eucharistic adoration or meditation, concluding with the Our Father, the Profession of Faith, and appropriate invocations to Mary. Furthermore, on the occasion of the Jubilee, it will be possible to obtain the indulgence, under the same conditions, by traveling to other sacred places in the city of Rome, such as the designated Basilicas and Sanctuaries, the churches of the Jubilee Pathway of the Iter Europaeum and certain churches dedicated to the Women Patrons of Europe and Doctors of the Church (details on the churches and Jubilee pathways can be consulted on this site).
The indulgence can also be gained by visiting other places in the world, such as – among others – the two minor Papal Basilicas in Assisi, St Francis’ Basilica and that of Santa Maria degli Angeli, and the Pontifical Basilicas of the Madonna di Loreto, the Madonna of Pompeii, and Sant Anthony of Padua. In the event of serious impediments, the truly repentant faithful unable to participate in the celebrations, pilgrimages or visits will be able to obtain the Jubilee indulgence under the same conditions if they recite in their own home or from wherever they are impeded from travelling, the Our Father, the Profession of Faith in any legitimate form and other prayers compliant with the purposes of the Holy Year, offering up their sufferings or the hardships of their lives.
Another way to obtain indulgence will be through ‘works of mercy and penance’, with which a person’s conversion is manifested. The faithful ‘following the example and mandate of Christ’, are encouraged to carry out works of charity or mercy more frequently, mainly in the service of those brothers and sisters who are burdened by various needs. Likewise, they may obtain the indulgence by visiting those ‘who are in need or difficulty (the sick, prisoners, the lonely elderly, the disabled…), ‘in a sense making a pilgrimage to Christ present in them.’
The ‘penitential spirit’, notes the Norms, is ‘the soul of the Jubilee’ and therefore the indulgence can also be obtained by ‘abstaining, in a spirit of penance, at least for one day of the week from futile distractions (real but also virtual distractions), from superfluous consumption as well as by donating a proportionate sum of money to the poor; by supporting works of a religious or social nature, especially in support of the defense and protection of life in all its phases.’
The full text of the Norms can be consulted at the following link: https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/tribunals/apost_penit/documents/rc_penitenzieria-ap_20240513_norme-indulgenza-giubileo2025_en.html