Jubilee 2025 – a year of grace, forgiveness & hope

Q: Archbishop J, what is a Jubilee Year? 

Pope Francis, Bishop of Rome, has declared 2025 a Jubilee Year for the Catholic Church, also known as a ‘Holy Year’.
A Jubilee Year is traditionally proclaimed by the Universal Church every 25 years.  The most recent ordinary jubilee was in 2000, with Pope Francis calling for an Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy in 2015-2016.
Jubilee years have been held at regular intervals in the Catholic Church since the 1300s, but they trace their roots to the Jewish tradition of marking a jubilee year every 50 years.
For Jews, Leviticus 25 lays out the requirements of a jubilee. It is a year of economic, cultural, environmental, and communal reset. It is a sabbatical year with the land laying fallow for the year. All debt is forgiven. Anyone taken into slavery or indentureship is set free. The aim is for each Israelite to remember that the land and their family belong to God. The jubilee ensured that intergenerational poverty did not happen.
For Catholics, it is a year set aside to encourage the faithful to embark on pilgrimages, repent of their sins, forgive the sins of others, and renew their focus on the spiritual life.
The theme for Jubilee Year 2025 is Pilgrims of Hope. On May 9, Pope Francis issued the decree Spes non Confundit, ‘Hope Does Not Disappoint’ (ref Romans 5:5), a Bull of Indiction, introducing the Year.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1817) defines hope as (1) a theological virtue that (2) reorients our desire towards Heaven and God, and (3) moves our reliance from ourselves to God. Hope is vital to the spiritual life.
On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis will officially open Jubilee 2025 with the rite of the opening of the Holy Door, 7 p.m., at St Peter’s Basilica before he celebrates midnight Mass.

Sacred sites
In union with dioceses worldwide, I will open the Jubilee Door at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Sunday, December 29. Our rite and celebration of Holy Mass will start at 9 a.m. Subsequently, I will open seven sacred sites throughout Trinidad and Tobago, which local pilgrims can visit for spiritual renewal.

• Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception – Port of Spain
• Our Lady of the Assumption – Maraval
• Our Lady of Fatima – Curepe
• Our Lady of Montserrat – Tortuga
• Our Lady of Perpetual Help – San Fernando
• La Divina Pastora – Siparia
• St Francis of Assisi – Sangre Grande
• St Joseph – Tobago

Parishes are invited to organise pilgrimages to a sacred site during the year. You will receive information on how to arrange this to ensure adequate hospitality. Families, groups and individuals are also encouraged to make pilgrimages to our sacred sites. You will be given a pilgrim passport at the beginning of the year. Please take it to the sacred sites and special events to have it stamped. At the end of the year, you would want to have collected all the stamps of the Jubilee.
At each sacred site, you are offered a full pardon of all sins with the removal of all penalties on Earth and in Heaven. This is known as an indulgence. To gain an indulgence, you will need to

• Have true contrition for your sins
• Receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation within seven days of the visit
• Attend Mass and receive Holy Communion
• Pray for the Pope’s intentions
• Do spiritual works of mercy and penance

If you are housebound and unable to visit a sacred site, you can receive the indulgence through virtual participation in a liturgical celebration or a pilgrimage. For this, you need to

• Recite the Our Father
• Make a profession of faith
• Pray for the Holy Father
• Do spiritual works of mercy and penance
• Ask your priest for the Sacrament of Reconciliation

Major events
One of the main events of Jubilee 2025 is the Eucharistic Congress. The Congress will include keynote speakers from abroad, liturgical activities, and a healing service. It will begin in the vicariate during the week and end on Saturday, May 10, at the Queen’s Park Oval, with a day-long celebration beginning at 8 a.m.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Pro-Prefect for the Section of Evangelization of Dicastery for Evangelization and President of Interdicasterial Commission for Consecrated Religious of Rome, Italy, has graciously accepted the Antilles Episcopal Conference’s invitation to celebrate Holy Mass at the Congress. Mark the date as this one will be extraordinary.
The Jubilee Year will end with a Festival of Hope, October 10–12. This Festival will bring together all dimensions of Church to celebrate our Catholic tradition in a uniquely Caribbean way.

Monthly themes
A big part of the Jubilee celebrations will be the Archdiocesan and parish celebrations. Each month has a major theme, and several events are suggested to celebrate it.
In January, we celebrate Communications, and in February, we celebrate Healing and Health. Each parish needs to examine the themes and events and decide which are most applicable to its people. The Archdiocese will also consider the themes and decide which it will celebrate in a more official way.
The Jubilee calendar will include Archdiocesan events that have already been announced, parish events that will be decided and communicated at the parish level, group events relating to particular ministries and the Jubilee, and family events, including pilgrimages and other events.
This is a year of grace and forgiveness. I urge each of you to participate as fully as possible in the events. This is a unique opportunity; the next Jubilee will be in 2050.
The passport you will receive from your parish will be registered there. Ensure your passport is stamped at each site you visit and at the big events. At the end of the year, you will have a story to tell and proof of participation in this year of extraordinary grace.
Do not hold back or be stingy with your time and yourself when God is dispensing grace in abundance. Be generous! You cannot outdo God in generosity.

Key message:
The Jubilee occurs once every 25 years. It is a time of mercy and forgiveness, a time to participate fully.

Action Step:
Look at the calendar of events and decide which events you will participate in as a family, in the parish and in the archdiocese. Have a plan and follow it through.

Scripture reading: 
Leviticus 25:8–13