Giubileo 2025

The start of the 2025 Jubilee is marked by the opening of the Holy Door on 24 December 2024

>Jubilee Calendar
>St. Peter's Holy Door
>Jubilee Walks inside Rome
>Jubilee Churches
>Pilgrims' Centre - Info Point

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Jubilee is the name of a particular year: it seems to derive from the instrument used to indicate its beginning; it is the yobel, the ram's horn, whose sound announces the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). This holiday occurs every year, but takes on a special significance when it coincides with the beginning of the Jubilee year. We find an early idea of it in the Bible: it was to be convened every 50 years, since it was the extra year, to be experienced every seven weeks of the year (cf. Lev 25:8-13). It was proposed as the occasion on which to re-establish the correct relationship with God, between people and with creation, and involved the remission of debts, the restitution of alienated land and the resting of the earth.

Boniface VIII in 1300 called the first Jubilee, also called the Holy Year, because it is a time when Christians experience God's holiness transforming us. The cadence has changed over time: in the beginning it was every 100 years; it was reduced to 50 years in 1343 by Clement VI and to 25 in 1470 by Paul II. There are also extraordinary moments: for example, in 1933 Pius XI wanted to commemorate the anniversary of the Redemption and in 2015 Pope Francis proclaimed the Year of Mercy. The way of celebrating this year has also been different: originally it coincided with the visit to the Roman Basilicas of St Peter and St Paul, then with the pilgrimage, later other signs were added, such as the Holy Door. By participating in the Holy Year according to Christianity, one experiences plenary indulgence.