A Year of Grace and Renewal: The 2025 Catholic Jubilee

Questo è l'anno del Giubileo che è iniziato il 24 dicembre 2025 e si concluderà il 6 gennaio 2026. È iniziato ufficialmente con l'apertura delle porte di bronzo del Vaticano da parte di Papa Francesco. Il Giubileo viene definito Santo perché i cattolici che fanno il pellegrinaggio in Vaticano ricevono il perdono dei peccati non solo per se stessi ma anche per i familiari defunti. Il logo di quest'anno sono quattro figure umane che si abbracciano. È simbolo della solidarietà e della fraternità degli umani. Il motto è “Pellegrini nella speranza”. Insomma, il Giubileo è un anno molto importante e spirituale per tutti i cattolici del mondo.

As the world enters 2025, Catholics across the globe prepare to celebrate an extraordinary year of grace, faith, and spiritual renewal during the 2025 Jubilee. Declared by Pope Francis, this Holy Year invites the faithful to reconnect with the core tenets of mercy, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Rooted in biblical traditions and the Church’s history, jubilees are rare and sacred moments, offering pilgrims the opportunity to experience profound spiritual blessings.

From the opening of the Holy Doors in the four major basilicas of Rome to a host of events in dioceses worldwide, the Jubilee promises to be a time of unity and transformation. For the millions expected to participate, both in person and virtually, this sacred year is a call to deepen their faith and engage in acts of service and charity, echoing the Pope’s enduring message of hope for a world marked by division and challenges.

This column explores the significance, themes, and events of the 2025 Jubilee, highlighting its potential to inspire a renewed sense of community and purpose among Catholics and beyond.

The Catholic Jubilee of 2025 began on December 24, 2024, with the opening of the Holy Door and will last until January 6, 2026.

For pilgrims from all over the world, it will be a unique opportunity to embark on a spiritual journey with religious tours that allow you to visit the various papal basilicas and Jubilee traditions, or with the Vatican City Pass, granting access to iconic locations.

The Jubilee is a special year of grace when the Catholic Church offers the faithful the chance to receive the plenary indulgence, meaning the forgiveness of sins for themselves or deceased relatives.

The most moving and well-known ritual is undoubtedly the opening of the Holy Door. This door is only opened during the Jubilee year, and the 4 main ones are the major basilicas of Rome: St. Peter's, St. John Lateran, St. Paul Outside the Walls, and St. Mary Major. The first to open is St. Peter's Basilica, while the others follow in the coming days and remain open until the end of the Jubilee, when they are sealed again.

The last Jubilee was the extraordinary one of 2015, initiated by Pope Francis. The Jubilee in 2025 will thus be the second under Pope Francis.

The logo of the Jubilee of 2025 shows four stylized figures, representing all of humanity, coming from the four corners of the earth. They embrace each other to indicate the solidarity and fraternity which should unite all peoples.

The figure at the front is holding onto the cross. It is not only the sign of the faith which this lead figure embraces, but also of hope, which can never be abandoned, because we are always in need of hope, especially in our moments of greatest need. There are the rough waves under the figures, symbolizing the fact that life’s pilgrimage does not always go smoothly in calm waters. Often the circumstances of daily life and events in the wider world require a greater call to hope. That’s why we should pay special attention to the lower part of the cross which has been elongated and turned into the shape of an anchor which is let down into the waves.

The anchor is well known as a symbol of hope. In maritime jargon the ‘anchor of hope’ refers to the reserve anchor used by vessels involved in emergency maneuvers to stabilize the ship during storms. It is worth noting that the image illustrates the pilgrim’s journey not as an individual undertaking, but rather as something communal, marked by an increasing dynamism leading one ever closer to the cross.

The cross in the logo is by no means static, it is also dynamic. It bends down towards humanity, not leaving human beings alone, but stretching out to them to offer the certainty of its presence and the security of hope.

At the bottom of the logo is the motto of the 2025 Jubilee Year: Peregrinantes in Spem (Pilgrims in hope), represented in green letters.

The Jubilee prayer is as follows:

Father in heaven,
may the faith you have given us in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother, and the flame of charity enkindled 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 tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.
May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos in the sure expectation of a new heaven and a new earth, when, with the powers of Evil vanquished, your glory will shine eternally.
May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope, a yearning for the treasures of heaven.
May that same grace spread the joy and peace of our Redeemer throughout the earth. To you our God, eternally blessed, be glory and praise for ever.
Amen.