The Holy Father has sent a letter to Monsignor Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, a Dicastery entrusted with the organization of the Jubilee of 2025, and the responsibility of finding the appropriate ways for the Holy Year to be prepared and celebrated with intense faith, living hope and active charity.
Renato Martinez – Vatican City
«The coming Jubilee can go a long way in restoring a climate of hope and trust, as a sign of a new renaissance that we all perceive as an urgency,» Pope Francis writes in his Letter addressed to Monsignor Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, a Dicastery entrusted with the organization of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025, whose motto is «Pilgrims of Hope».
The Jubilee, a special gift of grace
In his letter – signed in St. John Lateran, February 11, 2022, on the memory of the Blessed Lady of Lourdes – the Holy Father recalls that the Jubilee has always been an event of great spiritual, ecclesial and social importance in the life of the Church.
«Ever since Boniface VIII instituted the first Holy Year in 1300—with a cadence of one hundred years, which then became according to the biblical model, fifty years and subsequently fixed at twenty-five—the faithful people of God have lived this celebration as a special gift of grace, characterized by the forgiveness of sins and, in particular, by indulgence, the full expression of God’s mercy».
«The faithful, usually at the end of a long pilgrimage, access the spiritual treasure of the Church by passing through the Holy Door and venerating the relics of the Apostles Peter and Paul preserved in the basilicas in Rome… giving a living witness to their enduring faith».
Living the Holy Year in all its Pastoral meaning
Pope Francis also points out that the Great Jubilee of the year 2000 introduced the Church into the third millennium of its history. St. John Paul II had hoped and desired it so much, in the hope that all Christians, overcome their historical divisions that they could celebrate together the two thousand years of the birth of Jesus Christ, Savior of humanity.
«As we approach the first twenty-five years of the twenty-first century,» the Pontiff affirms, «we are called to set in motion a preparation that will enable the Christian people to live the Holy Year in all its pastoral significance».
«In this sense an important stage has been the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, which has allowed us to rediscover all the strength and tenderness of the Father’s merciful love, so that in turn we may be his witnesses”.
Two years of suffering and limitations
However, the Holy Father recalls that, in the last two years, there has been no country that has not been affected by the unexpected epidemic that, in addition to make us see the drama of dying in solitude, the uncertainty and ephemerality of existence, has also changed our way of life. As Christians, the Pope points out, we have gone through the same sufferings and limitations together with our brothers and sisters.
Our churches have been closed, the same as the schools, factories, offices, shops and recreational spaces. We have all seen the limitation of some freedom and the pandemic, in addition, the pain, has sometimes awakened doubt, fear and bewilderment in our souls. The men and women of science, with great promptness, have found the first remedy that little by little allows the everyday life to return.
«We are fully confident that the epidemic can be overcome and the world will recover its rhythms of personal relationships and social life. This will be easier to achieve to the extent that solidarity is acted upon, so that the most disadvantaged populations are not left unattended, but will be able to share all the necessary discoveries of science and medicines».
The Jubilee can help restore hope
Hence Pope Francis’ invitation to «keep burning the flame of hope that has been given to us, and to do everything possible so that each one regains the strength and certainty to look to the future with an open mind, a confident heart and a broad vision». For this reason, affirms the Pope, the upcoming Jubilee can go a long way towards restoring a climate of hope and trust, as a sign of a new renaissance that we all perceive as urgent. That’s why I chose the motto Pilgrims of Hope. All this will be possible if we are able to recover the sense of universal fraternity, if we do not close our eyes to the tragedy of rampant poverty that prevents millions of men, women, young people and children from living in a humanly dignified way. I am thinking in particular of the many refugees who are forced to leave their lands.
«May the voices of the poor be heard in this time of preparation for the Jubilee which, according to the biblical mandate, restores to each one access to the fruits of the earth: While the land has its Sabbath, all its produce will be food equally for you yourself and for your male and female slaves, for your hired help and the tenants who live with you, and likewise for your livestock and for the wild animals on your land (Lv 25:6-7)».
Let us not neglect the care of our common home
Therefore, the Bishop of Rome indicates that the spiritual dimension of the Jubilee, which invites us to conversion, must be united to these fundamental aspects of social life, in order to form a coherent whole. Since we all feel like pilgrims in the land where the Lord has placed us so that we may cultivate and take care of it (cf. Gen 2:15), let us not neglect, along the way, the contemplation of the beauty of creation and the care of our common home. I hope that the next Jubilee Year will be celebrated and lived also with this intention.
«In fact, an increasing number of people, including many young people and adolescents, recognize that the care of creation is an essential expression of faith in God and obedience to His will».
Intense faith, living hope and active charity
Thus, Pope Francis entrusts to Monsignor Fisichella the responsibility of finding the appropriate ways for the Holy Year to be prepared and celebrated with intense faith, living hope and active charity. The Dicastery that promotes the new evangelization will know how to make this moment of grace a significant stage for the pastoral care of the particular Churches, both Latin and Eastern, which in these years are called to intensify their synodal commitment. In this perspective, the pilgrimage to the Jubilee will be able to fortify and manifest the common path that the Church is called to travel in order to be ever more clearly a sign and instrument of unity in the harmony of diversity. It will be important to help rediscover the demands of the universal call to responsible participation, with the valorization of the charisms and ministries that the Holy Spirit does not cease to grant for the edification of the one Church.
«The four Constitutions of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, together with the Magisterium of these decades, will continue to orient and guide the holy People of God, so that they may progress in the mission of bringing the joyful proclamation of the Gospel to all”.
The year 2024 a great «symphony» of prayer
The Holy Father also specifies in his Letter that the Bull of Convocation, which will be published in due course, will contain the necessary indications for the celebration of the Jubilee of 2025. In this time of preparation, I am glad to think that the year 2024, which precedes the event of the Jubilee, can be dedicated to a great «symphony» of prayer; first of all, to regain the desire to be in the presence of the Lord, to listen to Him and to adore Him. Prayer, to thank God for the many gifts of his love for us and to praise his work in creation, which commits us to respect it and to act concretely and responsibly to safeguard it. Prayer as a voice «of one heart and one soul» that translates into being in solidarity and sharing the daily bread. Prayer that allows every man and woman of this world to turn to the one God, to express to Him what they have in the secrets of their hearts. Prayer as a master way to holiness, which leads us to live contemplation in action.
«In short, an intense year of prayer, in which the hearts can be opened to receive the abundance of grace, making the ‘Our Father’, the prayer that Jesus taught us, the program of life of each of his disciples. «Asking the Virgin Mary to accompany the Church on the journey of preparation for the event of grace of the Jubilee, Pope Francis concludes his Letter by thanking Monsignor Rino Fisichella and his collaborators, to whom he imparts his Apostolic Blessing.