These themed jubilees, taking place over the months, will include those on: World of Communications (January); Armed Forces, police and security (February); people with disabilities (April); musicians (May); those working in government (June); prisoners (July); and young people (July-August). On May 9, 2024, on the Solemnity of Ascension, the Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee will be published.
Graham Bell, Under-Secretary of the Dicastery, presented the new Jubilee website, iubilaeum2025.va, accessible in nine languages. Beginning in September 2023, it will be possible to register online to obtain a “free, personalized ‘Pilgrim’s Card,’ required in order to participate in the events and to organize pilgrimages to the Holy Door,” the site reports.
On Thursday, June 1, the Pilgrim Center – Info Point was inaugurated, at 7 via della Conciliazione, which will be a point of reference open to both tourists and pilgrims seeking information concerning the Jubilee Year, how to participate, the latest news, volunteers opportunities and the organization of pilgrimages.
In his letter for the Jubilee, Pope Francis gave the theme for the two years preceding the Holy Year. In 2023: “The four Constitutions of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, together with the Magisterium of these recent decades, will continue to provide direction and guidance to God’s holy people, so that it can press forward in its mission of bringing to everyone the joyful proclamation of the Gospel.” – which texts have been the subject of a recent reissue by Shalom editions.
May 2024, “be an intense year of prayer in which hearts are opened to receive the outpouring of God’s grace, and to make the ‘Our Father,’ the prayer Jesus taught us, the life program of each of his disciples.”
Rigorous Ecumenism
Three pilgrimage routes are proposed in Rome for this Jubilee: the great pilgrimage of the seven basilicas which involves a 25 km walk; the pilgrimage dedicated to patronesses of Europe and the doctors of the Church; and one dedicated to the churches of the European Union (Iter Europaeum). The European itinerary will have an ecumenical character, with the Jubilee coinciding with the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea (325), the first Christological council.
Thus the 28 churches and basilicas of this route include non-Catholic churches, such as the San Teodoro church of the Greek Orthodox patriarchate, and even the Chiesa Evangelica Luterana, a German Lutheran church.
Estimates made by the Faculty of Sociology of Roma Tre put the figure at 32 million pilgrims. These are projections, which will have be greatly increased, said Msgr. Fisichella, as the city of Rome has faced a strong upsurge in tourists in recent months. Also the Eternal City has started construction sites beginning in July 2023.
An underpass is scheduled to be built between piazza Pia and via della Conciliazione leading to St. Peter’s, some neighborhoods are slated to become pedestrian zones. “We are confident that the biggest works will be finished by December 8, 2024,” said the Italian prelate. – But nothing is less certain. See our article “Rome 2025: The 13th Labor of Hercules.”
As part of the preparations for the Jubilee, cultural events will be launched in September 2023, notable with an exhibition of works by El Greco (1541-1614) in the Church of Sant’Agnese in Agone, at the Piazza Navona, presenting works that have never before left Spain. The cultural committee also intends to organize initiatives in prisons and hospitals.
If Rome will be the center, Jubilee will see events taking place in dioceses around the world, with the assistance of 212 delegates from Italian dioceses and 90 delegates from episcopal conferences around the world, who work in conjunction with the organizing dicastery.
“The word Jubilee means above all a pilgrimage that should remind each of us that we are in route, but that we must not be vagabonds without a goal, we must know where we are going,” explained Archbishop Fisichella. And he added: “Going through the Holy Door is not a magic gesture: Jesus told us that He is the door and that whoever passes through Him will obtain life and salvation.”
“Another sign of the Jubilee is the profession of faith at the tomb of the Apostle Peter and obviously the celebration of the Holy Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation which make it possible to obtain what in the Church has always been called by the fundamental term of indulgence, which means a great forgiveness, a total mercy of God.”
The objectives and projects for the Jubilee Year 2025 was presented by Msgr. Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, during a press conference at the Vatican on May 9, 2023. Between the opening of the Holy Door in December 2024 and its closure in December 2025, the Holy See will organize 35 specific events that will take place over 80 days.