What is the Jubilee Holy Year 2025?
Catholic Current speaks with Cindy Wooden of CNS Rome and Fr. Paul Hartmann and Paul Jarzembowski of the USCCB about the Jubilee Holy Year and how it connects to Rome-bound and stateside U.S. pilgrims in 2025.
Jubilee 2025 - Pilgrims of Hope
Visit the Vatican Jubilee 2025 Website: Iubilaeum 2025
2025 is the Jubilee Holy Year, the 2,025th anniversary of the Incarnation of our Lord, an "event of great spiritual, ecclesial, and social significance in the life of the Church." The concept of "Jubilee" has its origins in the Book of Leviticus (chapter 25) as a special year of reconciliation, pilgrimage, and coming home. Pope Francis has designated the 2025 Holy Year as a time to renew ourselves as "Pilgrims of Hope."
This web page can offer Catholics resources and ideas for celebrating the 2025 Jubilee locally or by making a special pilgrimage to Rome. The site is regularly updated with the latest news, so be sure to check back regularly.
-
Overview Information about the Jubilee Holy Year 2025
This brief information document includes some background on the Jubilee that diocesan, eparchial, parish, campus, movement, and school organizers may find useful in their planning for local and pilgrim programs during the Holy Year.
See this introduction video on the Jubilee celebration.
This 2025 calendar of events includes a one-page overview of the Holy Year moments followed by several pages of anticipated detailed schedules for each Jubilee celebration in Rome, which can be replicated or adapted at the discretion of each local community. Note that this document is subject to change. See the calendar below on this page for the latest.
-
If You Are Headed to Rome for the Jubilee Holy Year
The Bishops’ Office for United States Visitors to the Vatican, sponsored by the Pontifical North American College and the United States.. Conference of Catholic Bishops, provides information to help you plan your Rome pilgrimage so that it may be a truly prayerful experience.
Follow them on INSTAGRAM.
Additionally, be mindful of the new visa requirements (linked here) for U.S. citizens (and others) entering the European Union, starting in 2025. For those from other countries (outside the U.S.) who need additional visas for travel to Europe, note the special Jubilee tourism visa process (linked here).
-
Jubilee 2025 Bull of Indiction: "Spes Non Confundit"
On Thursday, May 9, 2024, the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, Pope Francis officially proclaimed the Ordinary Jubilee of 2025 with the public reading and delivery of Spes Non Confundit, the Bull of Indicition for the Jubilee Holy Year 2025, in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. This papal document lays out the foundation for the 2025 Jubilee and its theme, "Pilgrims of Hope."
Click here for the USCCB Divine Worship Secretariat newsletter with some helpful information on the Bull
-
Special Jubilee Pilgrimages
The following are particular pilgrimages which are led by a U.S. Bishop.
Jubilee of Young People Pilgrimage
July 28-August 3, 2025, RomeSpecial Page on Jubilee Activities
Jubilee of Justice Pilgrimage
September 18-25, 2025, RomeJubilee of Catechists Pilgrimage
September 23-October 2, 2025, Rome -
Plenary Indulgence
The Vatican decree was issued outlining the different ways that Catholics may obtain the Plenary Indulgence during the 2025 Jubilee Holy Year. Click here to read and download the Plenary Indulgence Decree.
Click here for an article written by Catholic News Service.
What is a plenary indulgence? Check out the "Indulgences" section (nos. 1471 to 1479) of The Catechism of the Catholic Church, available online here.
National Shrines and Pilgrimage Sites in the U.S.
Formed in 1990 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Association of Shrine and Pilgrimage Apostolate (NASPA) is an association of shrines that have been designated as national Catholic shrines or that have been designated diocesan shrines. Those not able to pilgrimage to Rome may also obtain a Jubilee Indulgence by making a pious pilgrimage to a sacred Jubilee site, including any national minor basilica, Marian sanctuary, or national sanctuary.