A Jubilee Year “is a year of forgiveness of sins and the punishment due to sin; it is a year of reconciliation between adversaries [and] of conversion. A Jubilee Year is above all the year of Christ, who brings life and grace to humanity. “
-(From the website of the Holy See.)

In 1300, Pope Boniface VIII instituted a Jubilee or Holy Year to mark the beginning of the 14th Century. (Interestingly, it was a Franciscan friar, Bl. Andrea da Conti di Segni [+1302] who suggested creating the Jubilee Year to quell unrest over the turn of the century.) Since then, every 50, and then later, 25 years, a Jubilee Year has been proclaimed by successive popes. The concept of a Jubilee Year harkens back to the Old Testament, “This fiftieth year you shall make sacred by proclaiming liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you…” (Leviticus 25:10). In 2015, Pope Francis proclaimed an Extraordinary Jubilee Year on the theme of Mercy; this upcoming Jubilee’s theme is Pilgrims of Hope. As the quote above says, a Jubilee Year is a year of forgiveness and reconciliation between adversaries and conversion.

One of the dominant symbols of the Jubilee Year is the Holy Door, which pilgrims pass through as part of their Jubilee Pilgrimage. Each of the Major Basilicas in Rome (St. Peter, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major, and St. Paul Outside the Walls will have a Holy Door, which pilgrims will pass through. These doors are only opened during a Jubilee year. For centuries, the doors were opened with a silver hammer, not a key, “because the doors of justice and mercy give way only to the force of prayer and penance.” On December 24th, Pope Francis will open the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. In the following weeks, he will open the remaining Holy Doors in the other major Basilicas in Rome.

Towards the end of 2025, our Franciscan Province of Our Lady of Consolation will embark upon a year-long celebration of our 100th anniversary as a province. Truly a time of jubilee!