Jubilee Year 2025

Pope Francis officially declared 2025 a Jubilee Year for the Church in May 2024, with a papal bull titled “Spes Non Confudit,” which means “Hope Does Not Disappoint.”

The year-long celebration itself carries the theme: “Pilgrims of Hope.”

The Jubilee Year nears, with the opening of the Holy Door of Saint Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve.

“During the Holy Year, we are called to be tangible signs of hope for those of our brothers and sisters who experience hardships of any kind,” Pope Francis wrote in the papal bull, an official document written in Latin issued by the pope and bearing his official seal.

A jubilee is a special holy year of grace and pilgrimage in the Church. While Jubilee Years regularly occur once every 25 years, the pope can call for extraordinary jubilee years more often, which he has done for 2025.

In the papal bull, Pope Francis urged the need for peace in the world, which he said is “immersed in the tragedy of war.”

Inside this edition of the Sooner Catholic, the Jubilee Year is explained and featured, beginning with Archbishop Coakley’s regular column on Page 2 and continuing with information on what it means here in Oklahoma.


What is a Jubilee Year?
Every 25 years in the Church, in keeping with an ancient tradition, the Pope proclaims a “Jubilee Year,” during which special graces are available to all the Catholic faithful. A Jubilee Year is a gift from Holy Mother Church intended to renew our faith and remind us of the great calling we have, both to sanctity and to, “Go Make Disciples.”

The 2025 Jubilee Theme
For the 2025 Jubilee Year, Pope Francis has selected the theme, “Pilgrims of Hope,” inspired by Saint Paul’s reminder that, “Hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:5). Pope Francis reflects, “Everyone knows what it is to hope … For all of us, may the Jubilee be an opportunity to be renewed in hope. God’s word helps us find reasons for that hope.” (Spes Non Confundit, 1)




What is a plenary indulgence?
A plenary, or partial, indulgence is “a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven.” (CCC 1471)

In order to obtain a plenary indulgence, the faithful must be duly disposed in the following ways:
•    be truly repentant and free from any affection for sin
•    are moved by a spirit of charity
•    are purified through the sacrament of penance and refreshed by Holy Communion
•    pray for the intentions of the Pope

Ways to obtain a plenary indulgence during the Jubilee Year
•    pilgrimages
•    pious visits to sacred places
•    works of mercy and penance

During special occasions such as the Jubilee Year, the Church may decree the granting of an indulgence available to the Catholic faithful.

By making a pious pilgrimage to any of the designated pilgrimage sites at any time during the Jubilee Year, Catholics can obtain a plenary indulgence for themselves or for the souls in purgatory.

When visiting one of the Jubilee churches, pilgrims may obtain a plenary indulgence by attending any of the following at the site:
•    Holy Mass
•    a celebration of the Word of God
•    the Liturgy of the Hours (office of readings, lauds, vespers); 
•    the Via Crucis
•    the Marian Rosary
•    the recitation of the Akathist hymn
•    a penitential celebration, which ends with the individual confessions of the penitents, as established in the Rite of Penance (Apostolic Penitentiary, Decree, I)

The faithful may similarly obtain this plenary indulgence “if, individually or in a group, they devoutly visit any Jubilee site and there, for a suitable period of time, engage in Eucharistic adoration and meditation [even if the Blessed Sacrament is not exposed], concluding with the Our Father, the Profession of Faith in any legitimate form, and invocations to Mary, the Mother of God.” (Apostolic Penitentiary, Decree, II) 

Jubilee sites in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City during the Jubilee year: 

• The Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, 3214 N. Lake Ave. in Oklahoma City
• Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine, 700 S.E. 89 St. in Oklahoma City
• Saint Gregory’s Abbey, 1900 W. MacArthur St. in Shawnee
• Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 211 West Missouri in Okarche
• Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, near Saint Joseph Catholic Church, 17402 S. Van Buren St. in Bison
• National Shrine of the Infant Jesus of Prague, 304 Jim Thorpe Blvd. in Prague

Also read Archbishop Coakley's column: "Jubilee 2025: Pilgrims of Hope."