Pope Francis has declared that 2025 will be a Jubilee, a Holy Year, and the theme he has chosen is ‘Pilgrims of Hope’. The Jubilee logo shows figures coming from the four corners of the earth. They embrace each other showing the solidarity and fraternity which should unite us all. The leading figure holds a cross as a sign of Christian faith. The cross becomes an anchor, a symbol of hope, providing stability in the stormy waters we all experience on our pilgrimages through life.

The idea of a Holy Year has ancient roots. In the Genesis creation story God rested on the seventh day, which became the Sabbath. In the Jewish tradition the seventh year became a time of renewal, called a ‘sabbatical’. Following this pattern either the 49^th year (7 x 7) or the following 50^th year became a ‘jubilee’, a time of joy, remission of debts and pardon of offences. Similar thinking underpins the Christian jubilee.

The late 13^th Century was a time of war and plague, and thousands of pilgrims came to Rome at Christmas in 1299. In response to the needs of the faithful, on 22^nd February 1300, Pope Boniface VIII declared a pardon all sins for those who were truly penitent, confessed their sins, and visited the basilicas of St Peter and St Paul in Rome. Pilgrims were required to visit the basilicas daily for fifteen days and Roman residents for thirty days. Presumably this took account of the difficulties and dangers of medieval pilgrimage rather than the relative wickedness of the locals!

Pope Boniface intended that jubilees should be every 100 years, but Pope Clement VI held one in 1350. In 1470 Pope Paul II decreed that they should be held every 25 years, and this has been the general rule ever since. He also permitted people to visit a designated church in their own country. For the Great Jubilee of 2000 there was a three-year preparatory period and great efforts were made to involve Christians of other traditions.

The most important part of the Jubilee ceremonial is the opening of the Holy Door in each of the four great Roman basilicas of St Peter’s, St John Lateran, St Mary Major and St Paul Outside the Walls. The Doors are opened at the beginning of the Jubilee and sealed up again afterwards. Traditionally the pope himself opens and closes the Holy Doors of St Peter's. Walking through a Holy Door is a powerful symbol of personal transformation: pilgrims can lay down their baggage of brokenness and sin outside the Holy Door, walk over the threshold into the church, and rededicate themselves to a new life of mercy, freedom and hope as part of the Body of Christ.

It is anticipated that over 30 million people will travel to Rome during the Holy Year. Pope Francis wrote in his letter declaring the Jubilee:

“In the realization that all of us are pilgrims on this earth, which the Lord has charged us to till and keep (cf. Gen 2:15), may we never fail, in the course of our sojourn, to contemplate the beauty of creation and care for our common home.”

We live in a time of global warming, so a walking pilgrimage in England & Wales is a greener option than flying to Rome. We can contemplate the beauty of creation in our own countries and care for our common home by using public transport to the start and finish of our journeys. There is much to discover and rejoice in throughout our beautiful and ancient lands. During previous Jubilees there have been Holy Doors in churches and cathedrals around the world where pilgrims can receive the same graces as in Rome, and hopefully this will be the case for 2025.

I hope the Hearts in Search of God Project will be an inspiration and a practical help in your preparation for the Holy Year and your celebration of it. By late 2024 there will be walking guidance together with practical and spiritual resources for Pilgrim Ways in every diocese of England & Wales. Please register for updates.

Phil McCarthy, Project Lead

The Jubilee Prayer

Father in heaven,

may the faith you have gifted us in

your son Jesus Christ, our brother,

and the flame of charity

kindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,

reawaken in us, the blessed hope

for the coming of your Kingdom.

May your grace transform us

into diligent cultivators of the evangelical seeds

that make humanity and the cosmos rise

unto the confident expectation

of the new heavens and the new earth,

when with the powers of Evil overcome,

your glory shall be manifested eternally.

May the grace of the Jubilee

reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope,

the yearning for heavenly treasures

and pour over all the earth

the joy and peace

of our Redeemer.

To you God blessed in eternity,

be praise and glory for ever and ever.

Amen.

Franciscus