On January 6, 2026, Epiphany of the Lord, the Ordinary Jubilee will come to a close with the closing of the Holy Door of St. Peter ‘s Basilica in the Vatican.
In February 2022, when Pope Francis announced the Jubilee of the Ordinary Holy Year of 2025 with the words of St. Paul: “Hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:5), he indicated his deep desire that it would serve to rebuild a climate of hope and trust. Let us remember that the Holy Father made this announcement while the wave of the pandemic and its consequences were still ongoing. It was a historic event in which, as the Pope says, we have lived through months of fragility and fear, in which we have touched uncertainty and even death with our own hands. It is in this historical context that this Jubilee has been embodied, and the Pope has given it the motto: ‘Pilgrims of Hope.’
The Ordinary Jubilee Year, celebrated every 25 years, reminds us of what is established in the Holy Scriptures in the book of Leviticus as a time of conversion. In fact, in the instructions given in Leviticus 25, we find explicitly written that men and the land must rest, and property will return to its original owners. This is what the jubilee consists of: a renewal of our lives so that we can sow something that will restore our hope and allow us to rebuild our interpersonal relationships and our relationship with God.
“The Holy Jubilee Year has in the Holy Door a central sign that illuminates and concretizes its spiritual dimension as a call to conversion.”
In the Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee (May 9, 2024), Pope Francis emphasized the dimension of pilgrimage in this Holy Year. We are all ‘pilgrims’ on this earth. We are all always on a journey from beginning to end. Pilgrimage is also part of the history of salvation. But we must understand how and where we are going because pilgrims know where they are going; otherwise, they would be something else, for example, someone who wanders the streets is not a pilgrim.
To be a pilgrim, you must walk and know the goal of your journey; only then can there be hope. We are ‘pilgrims of hope’ because as Christians we know the path and the goal of our journey. Furthermore, in this Jubilee Year we are called not only to proclaim hope but to create visible signs of authentic hope. To move from hopes to hope. To the hope that gives certainty, strength, and security. To the hope that does not disappoint. I am convinced that Pope Francis, with the canonization of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati and Blessed Carlo Acutis, two young people who lived the Gospel intensely, wanted to give young people a tangible sign that they are the hope of the Church and of the world only if they strive to live the Gospel authentically.
Recalling the signs, the Holy Jubilee Year has in the Holy Door a central sign that illuminates and concretizes its spiritual dimension as a call to conversion. It represents Christ, the “door” of the flock (cf. Jn 10:7). Therefore, the Holy Door tells us that this Jubilee Year is not just any event, but first and foremost a spiritual event. I say again that the Jubilee is conversion, and although it may sound strange, because many no longer use the word or believe it unnecessary, indulgence is the most important experience.
For this reason, when the Holy Father opens the Holy Door and grants the Jubilee indulgence to all people, it means that we are facing the spiritual experience of God’s mercy and forgiveness. This is what happens in us when, having fulfilled the necessary requirements, we pass through the Holy Door in the church designated by the bishop.
In this Holy Year, another powerful sign of our pilgrimage of hope has been the various Jubilee celebrations with the Holy Father in Rome, who has called together everyone in the Church according to their age, vocation, mission, charism, ministry, and movement, as well as those from the worlds of culture, art, politics, sports, education, etc. These moments were always illuminated by the Word of God and the Pope’s reflections. Some of our seminarians still cherish the memory of the Jubilee for young people and seminarians.
Finally, I would like to mention another central sign of this Jubilee Year: the cycle of catechesis on ‘Jesus Christ, our hope’ in the Holy Father ‘s Wednesday General Audience since December 18, 2024. In these, we have retraced the life of Jesus, following the Gospels, from his birth to his death and resurrection, and as Pope Leo XIV says: “In so doing, our pilgrimage of hope has found its solid foundation, its sure way.” (Audience, October 15, 2025)
Soon the Holy Door will be closed and the Jubilee of 2025 will have come to an end. It would be appropriate to ask ourselves: What has it meant for my spiritual life and my vocation? How have I accompanied this Jubilee with my prayer and the practices proposed by the Church? What fruits can I reap from this Holy Year?
Let us pray with Pope Francis: “may the light of Christian hope illumine every man and woman, as a message of God’s love addressed to all! And may the Church bear faithful witness to this message in every part of the world!” (Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee 2025, 6).
(Thirty-six young pilgrims journeyed to Rome as part of the Jubilee of Hope. Led by Fr. Roger Niedzielski, the group’s chaplain, the pilgrimage is a hybrid study-abroad program offered by Newman Theological College
Fr. Paul Kavanagh will preside at the Closing Mass for the Jubilee 2025 year of Hope at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, December 28 at St. Joseph’s Basilica. This is also the Feast of the Holy Family. All are invited to attend the Mass)
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Fr. Augusto Garcia, PSS, is a member for the formation team St. Joseph Seminary. This article was first published in the fall 2025 edition of the Exiit Qui Seminat, the St. Joseph Seminary newsletter.
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