What is Jubilee?

According to Judaic tradition, the fields would lie fallow for a ‘Sabbath Year’ after 6 years of labour. Every seventh Sabbath year was followed by a Jubilee (50 years), during which slaves were released, commercial debts were cancelled, and property was returned to its original owners. This became a year of honouring God.

In the Catholic Tradition, Jubilees are now celebrated every 25 years. Jubilees are a year of pilgrimage, thanksgiving and repentance – it is a year for seeking and giving forgiveness.

In the Papal the Bull Spes non confundit Pope Francis talks about the following key themes:

  • Forgive debts & give pardons
    Pope Francis offers a “heartfelt appeal” to affluent nations, asking them to “acknowledge the gravity of so many of their past decisions and determine to forgive the debts of countries that will never be able to repay them.” This includes “ecological debt” as addressed in Laudato Si and the pardon of prisoners.
  • Peace for a suffering world
    Calling for a year of hope and patience in the face of much suffering in the world, Pope Francis “dreams that arms may fall silent”, encouraging diplomacy to end war and a “global fund” to put an end to hunger, rather than financing weapons.
  • Hope for the Future
    Pope Francis highlights his concern for declining birth rates, stating various reasons, including frenetic pace of life, fears about the future, lack of job security and adequate social policies. With this he also mentions his concerns for young people, stating they are the rising generation, and we must not disappoint them.
  • Christian Unity
    Jubilee year is an opportunity to focus on Christian unity and dialogue. 2025 will be the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. Pope Francis calls for continued work in Ecumenical dialogue, including working towards agreeing on a common date for Easter for Catholics and Orthodox. Perhaps providentally, Easter will be celebrated on the same day in 2025.

Pilgrimage

Pope Francis hopes that the itineraries and pilgrimages planned during the Jubilee year are “oases of spirituality and places of rest on the pilgrimage of faith” and that shrines may also be places “for the rebirth of hope.” Those who visit a designated Jubilee Pilgrimage site may obtain an indulgence. Visit our Pilgrimage page to find out how you can do that in the Diocese of Broken Bay!

FAQs

What is the Papal Bull of Indiction?

Tradition dictates that each Jubilee is proclaimed through the publication of a Papal (or Pontifical) ‘Bull of Indiction’. By ‘Bull’ is meant an official document, generally written in Latin, bearing the seal of the Pope, the shape of which gives its name to the document itself.

Each Bull is identified by its initial words. For example, Saint John Paul II proclaimed the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 with the Bull Incarnationis Mysterium (The Mystery of the Incarnation), while Pope Francis proclaimed the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy (2015-2016) with the Bull Misericordiae vultus (The face of mercy).

The Bull announcing the Jubilee, which indicates the dates of the beginning and end of the Holy Year, is usually issued the previous year, coinciding with the Solemnity of the Ascension. For the 2025 Jubilee, The Papal Bull is named Spes Non Con the Bull can be found here:
Spes non confundit – Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025 (9 May 2024) | Francis (vatican.va)

What are the Holy Doors?

The Holy Door of Saint Peter’s Basilica is opened by the Pope only at the beginning of a Jubilee Year. It is usually the first door to be opened to indicate the beginning of the Holy Year. This first evidence of the rite happening in St Peter’s was in the year 1500 during the papacy of Alexander VI. Nowadays, the wall sealing up the door is dismantled a few days ahead of the ceremony. During this operation, a casket, which had been bricked over since the end of the previous Holy Year, is extracted, and inside is the key which allows the door to be opened. The Pope pushes the door open in a symbolic manner during the opening ceremony. For safety reasons, the use by the Pope of a hammer to dislodge the bricks which had been used to seal up the door at its closure at the end of the previous Holy Year has been abandoned.

From this moment on, the Holy Door remains open throughout the Jubilee Year to allow pilgrims to enter. With this opening of the Holy Door, those who come to Rome can live fully the Jubilee experience and obtain the Jubilee indulgence but are also able to experience a deeper meaning, namely that their path of conversion has arrived at the final stage – the encounter with Christ, the “door” who unites us with the Father. The door is always open to those who convert their lives.

Jubilee Year Hymn

To assist prayerful celebrations of the Jubilee, a Hymn Pilgrims of Hope has been written.
Lyrics, Sheet music and a recording of the hymn can be found on the Jubilee Website

Jubilee Year Logo

The logo 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, symbolising 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 manoeuvres to stabilise 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, but 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 Logo can be downloaded here