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. “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.
Ahead of the upcoming Ordinary Jubilee of 2025, Pope Francis, in his Bull of Indiction, entitled ‘Spes non confundit’ (‘Hope does not disappoint’), indicated as the Holy Door “of St. Peter’s Basilica and the other three Papal Basilicas, namely St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major, and St. Paul Outside the Walls, with the exception of the Holy Father’s expressed desire to personally open a Holy Door in a prison ‘to offer prisoners a concrete sign of closeness’.”
The Holy Doors will only be open at the four Papal Basilicas (St. Peter’s Basilica, St. Paul Outside the Walls Basilica, St. John in Lateran Basilica,St. Mary Major Basilica) in Rome and in one prison.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.
Characteristics of the Jubilee
- A Jubilee year is a sign of reconciliation because it establishes a “favorable time” (cf. 2 Corinthians 6:2) for conversion. We are called to put God at the center of our lives, growing toward Him and acknowledging His primacy. Even the Biblical call for the restoration of social justice and respect for the earth stems from a theological reality: if God is the creator of the universe, He must be given priority over every reality and partisan interest. It is God who makes this year holy by bestowing on us His own holiness.As Pope Francis recalled in the 2015 Bull proclaiming the Extraordinary Holy Year, “Mercy is not opposed to justice but rather expresses God’s way of reaching out to the sinner, offering him a new chance to look at himself, convert, and believe. […] God’s justice is his mercy given to everyone as a grace that flows from the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thus, the Cross of Christ is God’s judgement on all of us and on the whole world, because through it he offers us the certainty of love and new life” (Misericordiae Vultus, 21). In practical terms, reconciliation involves receiving the sacrament of Reconciliation, taking advantage of this time to rediscover the value of confession, and experiencing God’s personal words of forgiveness. There are some Jubilee churches that stay open continuously to make available the sacrament of Reconciliation. You can prepare yourself to receive the sacrament by following a guide.
- There are many reasons and ways to pray, but at the root of prayer is always the desire to be open to God’s presence and His offer of love. It is the Spirit of the Son that calls the Christian community to prayer and allows fo turnr each person to return to the Father. It was Jesus who entrusted His disciples with the Lord’s Prayer, which is commented on by the Catechism of the Catholic Church (cf. CCC 2759-2865).The Christian tradition also offers other texts, such as the Hail Mary, that can help to find words to address God: “By a living transmission—Tradition—the Holy Spirit in the Church teaches the children of God to pray” (CCC 2661). The of prayer opportunities on the journey show that the pilgrim holds the path to God “in his heart” (Psalm 83:6). Refreshment is also provided by the various stops and opportunities for rest along the way, which are often organized around shrines, sanctuaries, and other places filled with spiritual significance, where one realizes that — before us and alongside us — other pilgrims have also passed along and traveled those same roads. Indeed, the paths leading to Rome have often been trod by many saints.
- The liturgy is the public prayer of the Church: in the words of the Second Vatican Council, it is the “summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; [and,] at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows.” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 10). At the center is the Christian liturgy is the Mass – the Eucharistic celebration, where the Body and Blood of Christ are truly received. As a pilgrim, Christ himself walks alongside the disciples and reveals to them the mysteries of the Father, so that they too can say, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” (Luke 24:29).One liturgical rite that is specific to the Jubilee year is the opening of the Holy Door. Until the last century, the Pope would symbolically initiate the demolition of the wall that kept the Holy Door bricked up on non-Jubilee years. Masons would then fully remove the brick wall to be able to open the Holy Door. Since 1950, the ceremony has changed and now the wall is dismantled beforehand and, within a solemn choral liturgy, the Pope pushes open the door from the outside, passing through it as the first pilgrim. This and the other liturgical expressions that accompany the Holy Year emphasize that the Jubilee pilgrimage is not merely an intimate, personal gesture, but is a sign of the journey of the whole people of God toward the Kingdom.
- The profession of faith – also known as the ‘Symbol’ – is a sign of the identity of the baptized person. The profession of faith expresses the central content of the faith: it succinctly captures the main truths that a believer accepts and witnesses to on the day of his or her baptism and shares with the entire Christian community for the rest of his or her life.There are various professions of faith which show the richness of the experience of encountering Jesus Christ. Traditionally, however, there are two that have gained special recognition in the Church: the baptismal creed of the church of Rome and the Nicene-Constantinopolitan creed, originally formulated in 325 at the Council of Nicaea, in present-day Turkey, and then refined at the Council of Constantinople in 381.“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved,” (Romans 10:9-10). This passage from St. Paul emphasizes how proclaiming the mystery of faith requires a deep conversion not only in one’s words, but above all in one’s understanding of God, of oneself and of the world. “To say the Creed with faith is to enter into communion with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and also with the whole Church which transmits the faith to us and in whose midst, we believe” (CCC 197).
The Jubilee Indulgence is a concrete manifestation of God’s mercy, which goes beyond and transforms the boundaries of human justice. This treasury of grace entered human history in the witness of Jesus and the saints, and by living in communion with them our hope for our own forgiveness is strengthened and becomes a certainty. The Jubilee indulgence allows us to free our hearts from the weight of sin because the reparation due for our sins is given freely and abundantly.
In practical terms, the experience of God’s mercy involves some spiritual acts indicated by the Pope. Those who cannot make the Jubilee pilgrimage due to illness or other circumstances are nonetheless invited to take part in the spiritual movement that accompanies the Jubilee year, offering up the sufferings of their daily lives, and participating in the Eucharistic celebration.
A Jubilee overview
In Spes non confundit, Pope Francis announced that the Jubilee Year will begin with the opening of the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve, 2024.
- The Holy Door of Saint Peter’s Basilica is opened by the Pope only at the beginning of a Jubilee Year. It is usually the first door to be opened to indicate the beginning of the Holy Year. This first evidence of the rite happening in St Peter’s was in the year 1500 during the papacy of Alexander VI.
- Later, on 29 December, the Pope 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, 1 January 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, 5 January, the Vigil of Epiphany.
- “In the course of the year,” Pope Francis had written, “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.”
- On 28 December 2025, the Jubilee will end in the particular Churches throughout the world, with the Holy Doors of St John Lateran, St Mary Major, and St Paul’s Outside the Walls being closed on that same date.
- Finally, the Jubilee Year will formally conclude in Rome on the Solemnity of Epiphany, 6 January 2026.
Sources
- https://www.iubilaeum2025.va/en/giubileo-2025/segni-del-giubileo.html
- https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2024-08/vatican-issues-clarification-on-holy-doors-during-2025-jubilee.html
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