Jubilee 2025 - Pilgrims of Hope

The practice of a jubilee year has ancient roots in the Jewish tradition and evidence for it can be found in the Old Testament. The jubilee was called every 50 years and was a time for forgiveness and a reminder of God's providence and mercy.

The dedication of a year for this emphasis provided the community with a time to come back into right relationship with one another and with God. As the practice of the jubilee year was adopted into the Church, these themes of mercy, forgiveness, and solidarity continued. Jubilee years celebrated in the Catholic Church focus on specific themes aimed to draw people closer to the Lord and bring about a renewal of faith and forgiveness in the world. 

For centuries a feature of Holy Year celebrations has been the indulgence, which the church describes as a remission of the temporal punishment a person is due for their sins. 

The Jubilee indulgence allows us to free our hearts from the weight of sin because the reparation due for our sins is given freely and abundantly. It is a concrete manifestation of God's mercy, which goes beyond and transforms the boundaries of human justice.

The conditions for receiving an indulgence during the Holy Year are that a person is "moved by a spirit of charity," is "purified through the sacrament of penance and refreshed by Holy Communion," and prays for the pope. Along with a pilgrimage (including through a Holy Door), a work of mercy, or an act of penance, a Catholic "will be able to obtain from the treasury of the Church a plenary indulgence, with remission and forgiveness of all their sins, which can be applied in suffrage to the souls in Purgatory."

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 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. 

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.