2025 Jubilee Year of Hope 

Pope Francis announced an ordinary Jubilee Year for 2025
The Jubilee Year runs from from December 24, 2024 until January 6, 2026.
The central theme of this Jubilee Year is Hope.

The word "Jubilee" comes from the Hebrew word "yobel" which was the ram's horn used to mark the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur.

A Jubilee Year derives its roots in the Old Testament. In Leviticus Chapter 25 it states that every 50 years must be treated as sacred. "The fiftieth year is your hear of Jubilee." -Leviticus 25:10.

The Jubilee Year for the Jewish people was defined by 4 central actions:

1. Debts are forgiven
   1. "At the end of every seven-year period, you shall have a remission of debts." Deut 15:1
   2. "If the person does not acquire sufficient means to buy back the land, what was sold shall remain in the possession of the purchaser until the year of the jubilee, when it must be released and returned to the original owner." Lev 25:28
2. Slaves are set free
   1. "You shall proclaim liberty int he land for all its inhabitants" Lev 25:10
3. Everyone returns home
   1. "Each of you shall return to your own property, each of you to your own family." Lev 25: 10
4. Everyone rests (the people and the land)
   1. "You shall not sow, nor shall you reap the aftergrowth or pick the untrimmed vines, since this is the jubilee. It shall be sacred for you. You may only eat what the field yields of itself." Lev 25:11-12

Both Yom Kippur and Jubilee Years were a time for the Jewish people to atone for sins and re-establish proper relationships with God, others, and creation.


In the year 1300, Pope Boniface VIII established the first Jubilee for the Catholic Church. 

Ordinary Jubilees in the Catholic Church occur every 25 years, with extraordinary Jubilees happening when the Pope deems appropriate. The last extraordinary Jubilee was proclaimed by Pope Francis in 2015 as a year of Mercy and to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second Vatican Council.

Jubilees in the Catholic Church are similar to that of the Jewish origins. They are years set aside to intentionally seek out reconciliation with God and others, and to allow God's holiness to transform us. 
Jubilees in the Catholic Church consist of several different actions of the faithful including:

• Pilgrimage
• Visits to Sacred Sites
• Works of Penance
• Works of Mercy
• Acts of Charity
• Formation Activities

Each of the actions above, when done in conjunction with the ordinary conditions of a plenary indulgence, can obtain for you or the souls in Purgatory a Jubilee Indulgence.


For more information on the Jubilee Indulgence, visit: https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2024/05/13/240513f.html
For the ordinary conditions of a plenary indulgence, visit: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/conditions-13362


For the official Papal Bull announcing the Jubilee and for Pope Francis' words about hope, visit: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/bulls/documents/20240509_spes-non-confundit_bolla-giubileo2025.html