Pope Francis will open the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome Dec. 24, signaling the start of the Jubilee Year 2025. Held every 25 years, a jubilee year is a holy year which highlights forgiveness of sin, conversion and celebrations.
“Jubilees are our tradition of our faith – it’s Scripture based,” Marilyn Santos, associate director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Secretariat said in an interview with Catholic Review Radio. “It actually is something that we inherited from our Jewish ancestors and brothers and sisters.”
Jubilee years have been held on regular intervals in the Catholic Church since 1300, but they trace their roots to the Jewish tradition of marking a jubilee year every 50 years. The most recent ordinary jubilee was in 2000, with Pope Francis calling for an Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy in 2015-2016.
Archbishop William E. Lori will mark the beginning of the Jubilee Year 2025 in the Archdiocese of Baltimore with a Mass at Cathedral of Mary of Our Queen in Homeland Dec. 29 at 11 a.m.
Deacon Manuel Aliaga, pastoral associate for the eastern vicar of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, will also lead a series of webinars that focus on the connection between the Jubilee Year of Hope and the Eucharistic Revival in the United States.
With the theme of Pilgrims of Hope, the jubilee year is expected to bring pilgrims from all over the world to Rome throughout the year. The Eternal City will host jubilee gatherings with liturgies, speakers and papal audiences to celebrate different groups within the church.
The first is the Jubilee of the World of Communications Jan. 24-26, followed by the Jubilee of the Armed Forces, Police and Security Personnel Feb. 8-9. The jubilee also includes gatherings for artists (Feb. 15-18), deacons (Feb. 21-23) and even marching bands (May 10-11). Some of these special gatherings will coincide with major canonizations, such as the canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis during the Jubilee of Teenagers April 25-27, and the canonization of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati during the Jubilee of Young People July 28-Aug. 3.
Many parishes are busy planning their own pilgrimages to the Eternal City.
Katiana Morales is traveling with fellow parishioners of Sacred Heart in Glyndon to Vatican City next November.
“Going to Rome and the (nearby) cities, participating in the different Masses that will be held in some of the major papal basilicas, has a deep moment of spirituality in my faith,” Morales said. “It means being connected and closer to a huge atmosphere and aura of devotion; closer to God.”
Towson University students Abigail Ahrens, Ian Holmes and Ben Tarnosky are headed to Rome next year with other fellow students from the college’s Newman Center along with Brian Rhude, TU’s campus minister, and Father Michael Misulia, TU Catholic chaplain.
“The opportunity to not only leave the country but to go to Rome as a young Catholic person is a dream come true,” Tarnosky, 20, a junior, said.
For Ahrens, the timing means even more, as she will have converted to Catholicism in the spring of 2025.
“This is the original church,” Ahrens said. “To go to Rome and see the relics, especially with a group that has helped in my faith formation, it is so much more special.”
Rhude is excited to show his students “how large the church is, especially in a holy year.”
“To be in the middle of the Eternal City, in a jubilee year, is a really powerful experience,” Rhude said, noting that the group plans to attend Mass at four of Rome’s basilicas – St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major and St. Paul’s Outside the Walls. There will also be time for reflection, he said.
Taking a pilgrimage is not the only way to celebrate the jubilee year.
“The vast majority of our people are not going to be able to pilgrimage to Rome, but this is a moment of the communion of saints that we’re all still expected to celebrate the Jubilee,” the USCCB’s Santos said. “At the end of the day though, with prayer, we can all participate.”
Santos noted that dioceses are encouraged to host their own pilgrimages within their dioceses.
In the Archdiocese of Baltimore, official pilgrimage sites include three in Baltimore: Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the National Shrine of St. Alphonsus Liguori and St. Jude Shrine; two in Emmitsburg: the Basilica of the National Shrine of Elizabeth Ann Seton and the National Shrine Grotto of Lourdes; and Ss. Peter and Paul Shrine in Cumberland.
The archdiocese has “jubilee passports” for both youth and adults. While the youth passports feature crosswords, coloring pages and other games, the adult passports feature spiritual exercises, meditations and prayers.
In May, the Vatican issued a decree announcing the many ways Catholics can obtain a plenary indulgence during the upcoming Jubilee Year. An indulgence applies to sins already forgiven. A plenary indulgence is like being baptized, as it cleanses the soul by removing temporal punishment due to sin.
To obtain a plenary indulgence, several conditions must first be met: detachment from all sin, sacramental confession, holy Communion and prayer for the intentions of the pope. While these steps can be done beforehand, they can also be done on the same day as the work.
During the Jubilee Year, the following ways to obtain indulgences were approved:
• Make a pilgrimage to Rome and visit at least one of the four major basilicas: St. Peter’s Basilica, the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major, or St. Paul Outside the Walls.
• Pray in other churches in Rome.
• Make a pilgrimage to churches in Rome connected to female saints.
• Visit your local cathedral or designated site.
• Pray in basilicas in Italy and in the Holy Land
• Perform works of mercy by visiting prisoners, spending time with the elderly, aiding the sick or those with disabilities and helping those in need.
• Fast from social media or television.
• Fast.
• Donate to the poor.
• Support religious or social works, especially in the defense of life.
• Offer support to migrants, the elderly, the poor, young people and abandoned children.
• Volunteer in your community.
• Participate in popular missions, spiritual exercises or formation activities on the documents of the Second Vatican Council and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
• Archbishop Lori will also impart the papal blessing, with the attached plenary indulgence for all who receive the blessing under the usual conditions, at the annual chrism Mass April 14 at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland.
OSV News contributed to this story.
For more information on local events and resources for the Jubilee Year, visit archbalt.org/jubilee-2025-pilgrims-of-hope
Email Katie V. Jones at kjones@catholicreview.org
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