The Jubilee Year of Hope, proclaimed by the late Pope Francis, will continue to offer spiritual benefits beyond the initial timeframe. The biggest Catholic news story of 2025 was the death of Pope Francis in April and the election of Pope Leo XIV, the first American Pope. Pope Leo XIV presided over Mass for the Jubilee of Prisoners on December 14, 2025. The Jubilee Year of Hope is considered by some to be even more significant for the faith lives of Catholics than the election of the new Pope.
3 months ago
Pope Francis proclaimed the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, opening the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve and another in a Roman prison to symbolize mercy for the marginalized.1
Pope Leo XIV has embraced this initiative since his May election, hosting events like the Jubilee of Youth gathering 1 million young people and a Mass for prisoners on December 14, 2025.1
At the prisoners' Mass on Gaudete Sunday, Pope Leo emphasized God's desire for universal salvation: “Let no one be lost! Let all be saved!”1
The Jubilee tradition, rooted in Old Testament mercy for the imprisoned, focuses on deliverance from sin through deepened sacramental life and discipleship.1
Pope Francis told inmates that opening the heart's door brings hope that “doesn’t disappoint.”1
The editorial underscores the desperate need for Christian hope amid Advent darkness, including a deadly attack on U.S. soldiers in Syria, a Brown University shooting, the murder of Rob Reiner and his wife in Los Angeles, and a Hanukkah slaughter in Australia.1
Christmas and the Jubilee's close remind believers that salvation's hope endures despite profound sorrows.1
Catholics can obtain a Jubilee plenary indulgence—remitting temporal punishment for sins—through pilgrimages, works of mercy, penance, and reconciliation.1
The Jubilee extends until January 6, 2026, when Pope Leo closes St. Peter’s Holy Door on Epiphany, offering a hopeful new year start.1
The Jubilee of Hope extends beyond Pope Francis’s death
The Jubilee Year 2025, themed "Pilgrims of Hope," was solemnly proclaimed by Pope Francis and endures well beyond his death on April 21, 2025, demonstrating the enduring nature of the Church's liturgical and spiritual calendar. Spanning from December 24, 2024, to January 6, 2026, this Ordinary Jubilee continues seamlessly under Pope Leo XIV, as evidenced by ongoing papal audiences, planned events for consecrated life, and consistent messaging on hope, peace, and pilgrimage. This continuity underscores the Jubilee's role as a graced period for the entire Church, transcending individual pontificates and inviting all faithful to renewed encounter with Christ's mercy.
Pope Francis issued the Spes non confundit, the Bull of Indiction, on May 9, 2024, establishing the Jubilee's framework as a "journey of hope" in continuity with prior Holy Years, including the 2000 Jubilee and the 2015-2016 Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. He decreed the opening of the Holy Door at Saint Peter's Basilica on December 24, 2024, followed by doors at Saint John Lateran (December 29, 2024), Saint Mary Major (January 1, 2025), and Saint Paul Outside the Walls (January 5, 2025). These doors in the major Roman basilicas close on December 28, 2025, with the Vatican Holy Door closing on January 6, 2026—the Solemnity of the Epiphany. Locally, bishops opened Jubilees in cathedrals on December 29, 2024, emphasizing pilgrimages symbolizing hope illumined by God's word.
This extended timeline inherently outlasts Pope Francis's earthly life, as the Jubilee was midway when he died—having begun nine months prior and with over eight months remaining. Preparatory letters from the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life, dated 2023, outlined events for October 8-12, 2025, including pilgrimages to the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul, passage through Holy Doors, and communal sharing among consecrated persons under the theme "Pilgrims of hope, on the path to peace." These plans, inspired by Pope Francis's February 2022 letter to the Dicastery for Evangelization, focused on reconciliation, solidarity, care for the poor and creation, and universal fraternity—themes woven throughout the Jubilee.
Even as Pope Francis's health waned, his final communications reinforced the Jubilee's forward thrust. In his December 7, 2024, address to ambassadors, he highlighted the impending opening of Saint Peter's Holy Door, calling the diplomatic corps to foster hope amid global conflicts through "quiet, patient and persistent diplomatic efforts," quoting Spes non confundit directly: "a desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring." Similarly, his November 8, 2024, letter to parish priests, religious, and clergy urged them to be "tangible signs of hope," linking the Jubilee to charity, the common good, and housing initiatives in Rome.
Post-inauguration messages sustained this vision. The Dicastery for Evangelization's September 27, 2024, World Tourism Day message tied tourism to Jubilee pilgrimage, invoking Fratelli tutti and Spes non confundit to promote hope as a builder of peace: "May the Jubilee remind us that those who are peacemakers will be called ‘children of God’ (Mt 5:9)." On January 3, 2025—just weeks after Francis's death—his earlier audience to the Italian Union of the Blind and Partially Sighted echoed the motto "Pilgrims of hope," portraying the Holy Door as Christ Himself, urging movement toward salvation's joy. These documents affirm the Jubilee's inexorable progress, rooted in tradition where Holy Years promote "holiness of life," faith consolidation, and fraternal communion.
The most direct evidence of extension lies in Pope Leo XIV's active participation. On September 6, 2025—over four months into his pontificate—he delivered a Jubilee Audience reflecting on hope as a "gift," likening believers to children "digging beneath the surface of life... to discover the hidden treasure of God’s Kingdom." Invoking early Christians and Saint Helena's discovery of the True Cross, he called for clearing "hardness and pride" to uncover "friendship with the Lord Jesus." He greeted English-speaking pilgrims, praying the Jubilee renew hope for "forgiveness of our sins, for the help of God’s grace and for life everlasting." This audience, amid the Jubilee calendar's Consecrated Life events (October 8-12), confirms Leo XIV's full endorsement, aligning with the Bull's vision of grace preceding the people "firm in faith, active in charity and steadfast in hope" (1 Thess 1:3).
The Jubilee's transcendence of Pope Francis's death reflects the Church's perennial nature, where papal initiatives bind successors unless explicitly revoked—a principle of continuity in magisterial teaching. Thematically, hope (spes non confundit: hope does not disappoint, Rom 5:5) propels this pilgrimage toward 2033's bimillennium of Christ's Redemption. Events like the Consecrated Life Jubilee in October 2025, planned pre-death but realized post-election, witness vocation's beauty amid communion. No sources indicate interruption; rather, they portray a unified ecclesial symphony of prayer, penance, and solidarity.
In summary, the Jubilee of Hope unequivocally extends beyond Pope Francis’s death, as its timeline (2024-2026), pre-planned events, and Pope Leo XIV's engagements attest. This continuity invites the faithful to pilgrimage in hope, embodying God's renewing love across pontificates.