Jubilee 2025

The start of the 2025 Jubilee is marked by the opening of the Holy Door of St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on 24 December 2024.

Historical Background

Jubilee is the name of a special year that seems to derive from the instrument used to indicate its beginning, the yobel, the ram's horn whose sound announces the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).

The holiday occurs every year, but takes on a particular significance when it coincides with the beginning of the Jubilee year.

The Bible gives us an initial idea of the Jubilee: it was supposed to be convened every 50 years, as it was the extra year to be lived 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 called the first Jubilee in 1300, also known as the Holy Year, because it is a time in which Christians test that God's holiness transforms us.

The cadence has changed over time: at first it was celebrated every 100 years; then every 50 years since 1343 with Clement VI and every 25 years since 1470 with Paul II.

There are also extraordinary Jubilees, like when, in 1933, Pius XI wanted to commemorate the anniversary of the Redemption and in 2015, when Pope Francis called for the Year of Mercy.

The way the Jubilee has been celebrated over time has also been different: originally it coincided with a visit to the Roman Basilicas of St Peter and St Paul Outside the Walls, then with a pilgrimage, later other traditions such as the opening of the Holy Door were added.

According to Christianity, one participates in the Holy Year to experience plenary indulgence.

> Jubilee Calendar
> Jubilee Ways inside Rome
> Jubilee Churches
> Pilgrims' Centre - Info Point