(OSV News) - As many as 35 million visitors are expected in Rome in 2025. Many of them will be pilgrims for the upcoming jubilee, a holy year the church celebrates every quarter-century. While numerous events are planned in Rome and at the Vatican to mark the Jubilee 2025, this Holy Year is for the whole church. Here are some ways to celebrate without traveling farther than your local cathedral.
1. Go to reconciliation.
The idea of a jubilee or holy year is rooted in the jubilees marked by the Israelites, who saw every 50th year as a special time for forgiveness and reconciliation with God and others. They would leave their fields fallow, replenishing the soil, allow those under slavery to regain their freedom, return land to its former owners, and forgive debts that could not be repaid. Reconciliation and righting relationships are also at the heart of the church's holy years, making the sacrament of reconciliation a key component of this year. In the papal bull announcing the year, Pope Francis called the sacrament of reconciliation "the essential starting-point of any true journey of conversion." During the Jubilee, in local churches "special care should be taken to prepare priests and the faithful to celebrate the sacrament of Confession and to make it readily available in its individual form," he said. Expect many dioceses to hold a period of round-the-clock confessions for the Lenten initiative 24 Hours for the Lord March 28-29, 2025.
2. Read the jubilee document.
Issued in May, "Spes Non Confundit" is the papal bull of indiction Pope Francis promulgated for the 2025 Jubilee Year. With the Holy Year's theme being "Pilgrims of Hope," it includes a scriptural reflection on hope, as well as an explanation of the meaning of a jubilee year; ideas and encouragement for Christians living out the Holy Year; appeals for accompaniment, mercy and charity for various people in need; and some of the key events and anniversaries the Holy Year will observe.
Among Pope Francis' words of wisdom is a reflection on patience, which he calls "both the daughter of hope and at the same time its firm foundation," but which, he said, "has been put to flight by frenetic haste" in an age of "now." "Were we still able to contemplate creation with a sense of awe, we might better understand the importance of patience" which "could only prove beneficial for ourselves and for others," he wrote. "Patience, one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, sustains our hope and strengthens it as a virtue and a way of life."
3. Make a pilgrimage.
In "Spes Non Confundit," Pope Francis counts among the Jubilee Year's "pilgrims of hope" those "who, though unable to visit the City of the Apostles Peter and Paul, will celebrate it in their local Churches." "Pilgrimage is of course a fundamental element of every Jubilee event," he wrote. "Setting out on a journey is traditionally associated with our human quest for meaning in life. A pilgrimage on foot is a great aid for rediscovering the value of silence, effort and simplicity of life." While traditional pilgrimage routes to Rome and in Rome itself are expected to be well trod during the Holy Year, Catholics can also make pilgrimages to local holy sites, or even their own parishes, for prayer, confession or Mass. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops also provides special formularies and readings for a Mass for the Holy Year approved by the Holy See.
Many U.S. dioceses have designated particular parishes or holy sites to serve as pilgrimage sites during the Holy Year. These sites provide the opportunity for pilgrims to receive the Jubilee Indulgence, a grace that remits the temporal punishments of sin. The plenary indulgence can also be received through pious visits to sacred places and through performing works of mercy. Details about the indulgence are outlined in a special decree Pope Francis issued May 13.
4. Visit your cathedral.
Unlike the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy 2015-2016, diocesan cathedrals will not designate Holy Doors to correspond with the traditional Holy Doors in Rome and at the Vatican. However, cathedrals are where diocesan bishops will officially open the Holy Year locally with Mass Dec. 29, the feast of the Holy Family. They will also be where bishops close local Holy Year celebrations Dec. 28, 2025. In the meantime, cathedrals are likely sites for diocesan Jubilee events. The Diocese of Grand Rapids, Michigan, for example, is planning seven pilgrimages to its Cathedral of St. Andrew over the course of the Holy Year for different groups, such as youth, parents and grandparents, and the Vietnamese and Hispanic communities.
5. Pray the Jubilee prayer.
Pope Francis has issued a special Jubilee prayer. At 139 words in English, the prayer is easily incorporated into the daily prayers of an individual or a family. Among its stanzas is the phrase, "May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope, a yearning for the treasures of heaven." It can be found by searching "Jubilee Prayer" at usccb.org.
6. Perform works of mercy.
In "Spes Non Confundit," Pope Francis asks Catholics "to be tangible signs of hope for those of our brothers and sisters who experience hardships of any kind." He specifically mentions prisoners, a group he has highlighted by designating a Jubilee Holy Door at Rome's Rebibbia Prison. He also mentions signs of hope are needed by the sick, the young, migrants, the elderly and grandparents, and the poor. The Holy Year should inspire Catholics to increase their exercise of the corporal works of mercy - feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, visiting the sick, visiting the imprisoned and burying the dead.
7. Review the resources.
The Vatican, the USCCB and many dioceses have online resources with information about the church's global and local celebrations of the Jubilee. They include information about the Jewish roots of jubilee years, their history in the Catholic Church, and how to spiritually prepare to receive the Jubilee Indulgence. The Vatican website (iubilaeum2025.va) includes a video of a choir performing "Pilgrims of Hope," the Jubilee's official hymn. With text written by Msgr. Pierangelo Sequeri, an Italian theologian and musicologist, the refrain focuses on the theme of hope: "Like a flame my hope is burning, may my song arise to you: Source of life that has no ending, on life's path I trust in you."
8. Practice hope.
In "Spes Non Confundit," Pope Francis underscores that the hope the Jubilee offers is for the universal church. "In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring," he wrote. Hope, he said, comes from Christ, and Christians deepen their hope through prayer, the sacraments and growing in virtue. "For everyone, may the Jubilee be a moment of genuine, personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, the 'door' (cf. Jn 10:7.9) of our salvation, whom the Church is charged to proclaim always, everywhere and to all as 'our hope' (1 Tim 1:1)," he wrote.
Other USCCB resources are here: https://www.usccb.org/jubilee2025
Caption: The is a combination photo of St. Peter’s Basilica and the logo chosen by the Vatican for the Holy Year 2025. Pope Francis has chosen the theme, "Pilgrims of Hope," for the jubilee year, which is marked by pilgrimages, prayer, repentance and acts of mercy. (OSV News photo/Massimiliano Migliorato, Catholic Press Photo)