Opening the Holy Door to St. Basilica on Christmas Eve, Pope Francis formally inaugurated the Jubilee Year 2025 with “Pilgrims of Hope as its theme. The year will be marked by pilgrimages and celebrations focused on specific groups – from migrants to marching bands, catechists to communicators, and priest to prisoners.
A holy year, or jubilee is a time of pilgrimages, prayer, repentance and acts of mercy. A jubilee year is a special year of grace and celebration, celebrated since biblical times. in the Old Testament, a jubilee was celebrated every 50 years as a time when Hebrew slaves were set free, debts forgiven, and land returned to its original owners. In the Catholic Church, jubilee years usually occur every 25 years.
This Jubilee Year, which runs from Dec 24, 2024 to Dec 23, 2025, was announced by Pope Francis in a papal bull entitled “Spes non confundit” (“Hope does not disappoint,” from Romans 5:5). The theme “Pilgrims of Hope” is intended to promote peacebuilding and outreach through prayer, pilgrimage, reconciliation and forgiveness. The celebration of a Holy Year every 25 years is an acknowledgement that “the Christian life is a journey calling for moments of greater intensity to encourage and sustain hope as the constant companion that guides our steps toward the goal of our encounter with the Lord Jesus,” Pope Francis wrote when announcing the jubilee.
Pilgrimage Sites
One way to remember that we are a pilgrim Church is to engage in pilgrimages. A decree was issued from the Holy Father’s Major Penitentiary, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis in May 2024 granting a plenary indulgence for pilgrimages to the major basilicas in Rome and three basilicas in the Holy Land. The decree also specified that pilgrims could visit a Cathedral, other church or sacred place, that was designated by the local ordinary. Bishop Jacques Fabre-Jeune, CS has announced that we have four parishes designated as pilgrimage sites this year to encounter and receive this special grace.
Those locations are:
Cathedral of St. John the Baptist | 120 Broad Street | Charleston, SC, 29401 | https://charlestoncathedral.com
Basilica of St. Peter | 1529 Assembly Street | Columbia, SC, 29201 | https://www.visitstpeters.org
Historic St. Mary Help of Christians Church | 203 Park Avenue SE | Aiken, SC, 29801 | https:www.stmarys-aiken.org
St. Mary Catholic Church | 111 Hampton Avenue | Greenville, SC, 29601 | https://smcgvl.org
Jubilee Prayer
Father in Heaven, may the faith you have given us in your Son Jesus Christ, enkindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, reawaken in us the blessed hope for the coming of your kingdom.
May your grace transform us into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel. May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos in the sure expectation of a new heaven and a new earth, when, with the powers of evil vanquished, your glory will shine eternally.
May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope, a yearning for the treasures of heaven. may that same grace spread the joy and peace of our Redeemer throughout the earth. To you our God, eternally blessed, be glory and praise for ever. Amen.