2025 Jubilee Year: Pilgrims of Hope

November 13, 2024

“Christian hope gives us the courage to build a fraternal and peaceful world when it seems barely worth the effort. … [and to] see the promise of good at times when evil seems to prevail.” Pope Francis

Pope Francis has called for an Ordinary Jubilee Year beginning in 2025.  Here, in the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, we took the final year of celebration for our Golden Jubilee ()2024), to prepare for this occasion. In prayer, sacrifice, and thanksgiving, we “renewed encounter [the Lord] through our works of charity, especially through the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy,” said Bishop Michael F. Burbidge.

Now, we will take this universal Jubilee Year as a time of “special grace” and an opportunity to procure a Plenary Indulgence.  The Pope declared that “[d]uring the Holy Year, we are called to be tangible signs of hope for those of our brothers and sisters who experience hardships of any kind.” Individuals are required to fulfill the usual conditions for an indulgence namely, the reception of Holy Communion, Sacramental Confession, and to offer prayers for the intentions of our Holy Father. Additionally, we are called to make a pilgrimage “to any sacred Jubilee site; pious visits to sacred places and works of mercy and penance.”

To read more from the Vatican, click here. To read Pope Francis’ official statement, click here.

To read Bishop Burbidge’s statement on the Jubilee Year, click here.