EDITORIAL: Whether you travel to Rome or participate locally during the special celebration, God’s grace still flows to the faithful through his Church.
Much of the Catholic media is currently buzzing about the launch of the 2025 Jubilee, a once-every-quarter-of-a-century year of spiritual renewal that began on Christmas Eve when Pope Francis formally opened the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica.
The Holy Year, which is focused on the theme of hope, is expected to draw an estimated 32 million pilgrims to Rome over the next 12 months, and the Eternal City is already pulling out all the stops.
But if 32 million Catholics will be making the pilgrimage to Rome this year, that means more than 1 billion others will not. In other words, Jubilee 2025 festivities in Rome will include only 2.5% of the world’s faithful.
And if you’re part of the 97.5% of Catholics who won’t be making it to Rome, the Jubilee can seem a little over the top.
For most of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, factors like finances, work, and family obligations make the prospect of coming to Rome to participate in Jubilee 2025 in person simply unattainable.
But if a Roman pilgrimage isn’t feasible for you right now, seeking spiritual renewal and reconciliation with God is. And even if you disagree with the way things are currently being run in Rome, God’s grace still flows to us through his Church.
The Jubilee is an important opportunity to affirm this truth: that no matter where we are or even who is pope, the Catholic Church is the Bride of Christ, the Ark of Salvation, and the “steward of the mysteries of God” (1 Corinthians 4:1). And in the year of Our Lord 2025, that same Church is inviting us to take part in a Jubilee celebration.
Participating in the Jubilee from afar is one way to do this (and with comprehensive coverage from EWTN, it’s easier than ever). Make an act of spiritual communion, pray in solidarity with your brothers and sisters on pilgrimage in Rome, and participate in Holy Year events in your local diocese.
One of the greatest opportunities available to all the faithful during a Jubilee is the possibility of obtaining a plenary indulgence, a grace granted by the Catholic Church through the merits of Jesus Christ to remove the temporal punishment due to sin. Such an indulgence, which applies to sins already forgiven, cleanses the soul as if the person had just been baptized. Plenary indulgences obtained during the Jubilee Year can also be applied to souls in purgatory with the possibility of obtaining two plenary indulgences for the deceased in one day, according to the Apostolic Penitentiary.
The bottom line is that God, through his Church, is inviting us to spiritual renewal this Jubilee year. And nothing should stop any of us from responding to that call.
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