On Christmas Eve 2024, Pope Francis inaugurated the Jubilee year 2025 with the opening of the holy door at St Peter’s Basilica. There will be five holy doors across the four major Basilica’s in Rome; St Peter’s, St Mary Major, St John Lateran and St Paul outside the Walls. The fifth holy door will be at Rebibbia Prison in Rome.
The Holy door has been concretely sealed since the last jubilee year, an extraordinary jubilee in 2016, the year of mercy. Passing through a holy door symbolises entering a new life with Christ, beginning a path of conversion and reconciliation.
The papal bull for the Jubilee Spes non confundit, explains that the Pope will begin the ordinary jubilee year with this liturgical action, taking place once every 25 years. The jubilee year will end with the closing of the holy door on the Solemnity of Epiphany on the 26th January 2026.
The theme for the year is ‘Pilgrims of Hope’. Bishop David began the jubilee year for our diocese on 29 December, the Feast of the Holy Family, with the Solemn opening at Northampton Cathedral. He said:
“Our hope needs to be constantly fed with the loving words of the Lord. As Jesus taught us, ‘Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake?’ Our heavenly Father gives us everything we need for the journey as pilgrims of hope”.
During the jubilee year, Catholics are encouraged to make a pilgrimage to Rome to obtain indulgences. Our diocese travels on pilgrimage to Rome in March 2025. Click here to join the pilgrimage.
Other ways in which Catholics can obtain an indulgence include making a pilgrimage to our Cathedral in Northampton or one of the other designated holy sites across our diocese, St Joseph and the Child Jesus in Bedford and St Peter’s Catholic Church in Marlow. Other ways include: performing works of mercy or acts of penance and sacrifice.
Catholic indulgences are spiritual benefits offered by the Church to lessen the temporal consequences of sins, drawing from the “treasury of merit” accumulated by Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the saints. They are obtained through particular acts of prayer, penance, or charity, typically alongside sacramental confession and receiving the Eucharist. Although indulgences do not absolve sins, they are intended to promote spiritual renewal and a deeper separation from sin.
Bishop David ended by saying
“And so we pray for each other. We ask the Lord to open our hearts to the many graces he wishes to give to us in this Jubilee Year. We pray for our families, that the longing and yearning of each heart within our family will be moulded to the love, the faith and the hope of the Holy Family”.
