Jubilee Year 2025

What is a Jubilee?

A Holy Year or Jubilee is a time of special graces, pilgrimage, prayer, repentance and acts of mercy, based on the Old Testament tradition of a jubilee of rest, forgiveness, and renewal. (Lev. 25: 10-15) It is also a time to visit designated churches and shrines, recite special prayers, go to confession, and receive Communion to receive a plenary indulgence. The aim of a Holy Year is holiness of life. It is convoked to strengthen faith, encourage works of charity and foster a consistent living of the faith. Pope Boniface VIII proclaimed the first Christian Jubilee in 1300. Since then, there have been twenty-six "ordinary" Holy Years, observed nearly every twenty-five or fifty years, the last being in 2000, proclaimed by St. John Paul II. Since the 16th century, a number of “extraordinary” Jubilees were proclaimed to commemorate the anniversaries of significant events. In the Diocese of Trenton the Holy Year begins December 24, 2024 and will conclude January 6, 2026.

Jubilee 2025

The theme of the 2025 Jubilee is captured in its motto: Pilgrims in Hope and the title of the papal decree proclaiming the Holy Year: Spes non Confundit (Hope does not Disappoint) (Rom. 5:5) The Jubilee aims to inspire a collective sense of hope, particularly in light of recent global challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, social disparities, and environmental issues. It summons us to be renewed in hope, and in turn, to be tangible signs of hope for those who experience hardship of any kind.

The Jubilee coincides with the 1700th anniversary of the 1st Ecumenical Council (Nicaea). This Council sought to preserve the Church’s unity which was threatened by the denial of Christ’s divinity. It approved the Creed we recite each Sunday at Mass.

Pilgrimage is an image of discipleship. We often speak of our earthly life as a pilgrimage. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6), so Christians are always called to be with Jesus “on the way,” journeying toward the Kingdom. More literally, a pilgrimage is an actual journey to visit holy places—not as a tourist, but as one seeking to grow in faith and become a better Christian.
 
There are many instances of pilgrimage in Sacred Scripture: the journeys of Abraham and Moses, the pilgrimages to the Temple of Jerusalem, the shepherds’ going in haste to the newborn Jesus, the journey of the Magi to worship the child Jesus, and the journey of the women to the Lord’s empty tomb on Easter. In the first centuries of the Church, Christians began to journey to places made sacred by Christ’s life. A true pilgrimage should integrate education, spirituality, and community (although one can be a solitary pilgrim) to keep it from becoming a sightseeing venture.