The Cathedral of Saint Thomas More News:

2025 Jubilee Year: Pilgrims of Hope

“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.” A visit to the Cathedral of Saint Thomas More fulfills this requirement. The other diocesan churches designated as pilgrimage sites are:
The Basilica of Saint Mary (Alexandria); Corpus Christie (Aldie); Our Lady of Hope (Potomac Falls); Saint John Bosco (Woodstock); Saint John the Evangelist (Warrenton); Saint Paul Mission (Hague); and Saint Patrick (Fredericksburg)

Discover how to receive a plenary indulgence* this Holy Year 2025 below.

 Make a pilgrimage to the Cathedral of St. Thomas More and participate in either:
  • Mass
  • Liturgy of the Word
  • the Office of Readings, Morning Prayer, or Evening Prayer
  • Pray a devotional prayer, i.e., the Way of the Cross, Rosary, the Akathist hymn, etc.
  • Penance service ending with sacramental confession

OR

Make a pious visit to the Cathedral of St. Thomas More or any of the eight Holy Year churches and:

  • Adore Jesus in the Eucharist, either exposed in the Monstrance or reposed in the Tabernacle for a suitable period.
  • Conclude your meditation with an Our Father, a Profession of Faith, and invocations to Mary

Soon before or after, also:

  • Make a good Confession, detaching yourself from all sin, including venial sin
  • Receive Holy Communion
  • Pray for the intentions of our Holy Father

For those cloistered, elderly, sick, caretaking, or imprisoned: we invite you to unite yourself in spirit with those making visits, recite an Our Father, a Profession of Faith, and prayers in harmony with the Holy Year and offer your sufferings and hardships to the Lord.

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.

To learn more about events in the Diocese of Arlington, click here.