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On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis officially opened the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica, which “opens” the Jubilee Year of Hope 2025. A Jubilee Year occurs every 25 years and is a time of mercy and forgiveness within the Church to remind us who we are and what our lives as disciples should point to. The last Jubilee Year was an extraordinary Jubilee, meaning it was a special Jubilee called for by Pope Francis as the Jubilee of Mercy in 2016. Since 1300, Jubilee Years have been celebrated by the Catholic Church either every 25 or 50 years. For some time, every 33 years. The concept of a Jubilee Year and the forgiveness of sins comes from Jewish practice in the Book of Leviticus.

One of the symbols of a Holy Year is the Holy Door, found at the four papal basilicas in Rome: St. Peter’s, St. Mary Major, St. Paul Outside the Walls, and St. John Lateran. As these doors are opened for each Jubilee Year, it is an external sign of God’s mercy, forgiveness, and love open to the faithful. It is also a reminder of one’s passage from sin into a life of grace by passing through the doors. In the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2016, Pope Francis allowed churches worldwide to designate a holy door, but only the four papal basilicas will have a Holy Door for this Jubilee. However, the Holy Father has allowed dioceses to designate pilgrimage sites for the faithful to visit to obtain the indulgence associated with the Jubilee Year.

Holy Name Cathedral is designated as an official Archdiocesan Pilgrimage Site for the Jubilee Year of Hope 2025. As the mother Church of the Archdiocese, and in union with other parishes throughout the Archdiocese that are also pilgrimage sites, we will welcome countless pilgrims seeking to encounter God and experience the spiritual blessings of this holy year.

As a pilgrimage site, the faithful who come here in recognition of the Jubilee Year of Hope will obtain the indulgence associated with the Jubilee by spending time in prayer, adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, or participating in the celebration of the Eucharist or Reconciliation or other scheduled liturgies (as well as by making a profession of faith and praying for the Holy Father’s intentions). Please join us throughout this year to obtain the spiritual benefits of the indulgence associated with the Jubilee Year.

This year is an exciting time for the Universal Church as we enter this sacred and unique time as part of a Jubilee Year. And particularly with everything that has happened since the last Ordinary Jubilee Year, the Great Jubilee of 2000. We are a people of hope who live in reality, knowing God is with us as we celebrate this Christmas season. Whatever we are going through, better and happier days are coming with Jesus on the journey with us. As we embark on this Jubilee Year of Hope 2025, let us renew our desire to be people of hope and to show the world that God is still with us in how we witness his love beyond these sacred walls.

Please join us in this Jubilee Year as we also celebrate our 175th Anniversary!

Prayer for the Jubilee Year

Father in heaven, may the faith you have given us in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother, and the flame of charity 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

–Pope Francis