Jubilee 2025: December 24, 2024 to January 6, 2026

Jubilee 2025 begins on Christmas Eve, 2024, with the official Opening of the Holy Door of Saint Peter’s Basilica, and runs to the Feast Day of Epiphany, with the Closing of the Holy Door.

What Is a Jubilee Year?

A Jubilee Year is traditionally proclaimed by the Universal Church every 25 years. It is a particular year set aside to encourage the faithful to embark on pilgrimages, to repent of their sins and forgive the sins of others, and to renew a focus on the spiritual life. In the Hebrew tradition, as recorded in Leviticus, a Jubilee was celebrated every 50 years with the freeing of slaves and the forgiveness of debts. In 1300, Pope Boniface VIII instituted the first Christian Jubilee, and since then the Church has designated each new Jubilee as a special year of grace and forgiveness, offering the faithful an opportunity to obtain a plenary indulgence.

The 2025 Jubilee will be centered on the theme “Pilgrims of Hope.” As His Holiness Pope Francis so beautifully expressed it: “We must fan the flame of hope that has been given us, and help everyone to gain new strength and certainty by looking to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart and far-sighted vision.”

The Vatican’s official website for Jubilee can be found at the following link:

https://www.iubilaeum2025.va/en.html

You can also view Pope Francis’s “BULL OF INDICTION OF THE ORDINARY JUBILEE OF THE YEAR 2025” at the link below:

https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/bulls/documents/20240509_spes-non-confundit_bolla-giubileo2025.html