2025 Jubilee Year - Pilgrims of Hope

How to Participate in Our Diocese | Pilgrimage Opportunities to Rome | Bishop's Podcast on the Jubilee Year

Father in heaven, may the faith you have given us in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother, and the flame of charity enkindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, reawaken in us the blessed hope for the coming of your Kingdom. May your grace transform us into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel. May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos in the sure expectation of a new heaven and a new earth, when, with the powers of Evil vanquished, your glory will shine eternally. May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope, a yearning for the treasures of heaven. May that same grace spread the joy and peace of our Redeemer throughout the earth. To you our God, eternally blessed, be glory and praise for ever. Amen.

• Be moved by a spirit of charity
• Be purified through the sacrament of penance
• Be refreshed by Holy Communion
• Pray for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff (CLICK HERE to see the Holy Father's daily intentions)

Method 1: Visit Diocesan Pilgrimage Sites

• In addition to the aforementioned necessary spiritual disposition, the faithful should, for a suitable period of time... 
  • Engage in Eucharistic adoration and meditation; it is not necessary for Eucharist to be exposed in the monstrance
  • Conclude the time of adoration and meditation by praying an Our Father
  • Recite a Profession of Faith such as the Nicene Creed, Apostles' Creed or the official Profession of Faith
  • Pray an invocation to the Mother of God such as the Hail Mary, Hail Holy Queen, Memorare, Regina Caeli, Angelus, or the Magnificat

Method 2: For the homebound and those unable to travel

• Pray an Our Father
• Recite a Profession of Faith such as the Nicene Creed, Apostles' Creed or the official Profession of Faith
• Offer prayers in conformity with the objectives of the Holy Year such as people experiencing God's mercy through genuine penance, encountering the profound love of God, individuals being moved to express acts of hope in the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, etc.
• Spiritually offer up their sufferings or the hardships of their lives

Method 3: through the Corporal and spiritual works of mercy

In a special way "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" (Spes non confundit, 10). Therefore, the Indulgence is also linked to certain works of mercy and penance, which bear witness to the conversion undertaken. The faithful, following the example and mandate of Christ, are encouraged to carry out works of charity or mercy more frequently, especially in the service of those brothers and sisters who are burdened by various needs. More especially, they should rediscover these “corporal works of mercy: to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, heal the sick, visit the imprisoned, and bury the dead " (Misericordiae vultus, 15) and rediscover also "the spiritual works of mercy: to counsel the doubtful, instruct the ignorant, admonish sinners, comfort the afflicted, forgive offences, bear patiently those who do us ill, and pray for the living and the dead" (ibid.).

In this way, the faithful will be able to obtain the Jubilee Indulgence if they visit, for an appropriate amount of time, their brothers and sisters who are in need or in difficulty (the sick, prisoners, lonely elderly people, disabled people...), in a sense making a pilgrimage to Christ present in them (cf. Mt 25, 34-36) according to the usual spiritual, sacramental and prayer conditions. The faithful can repeat these visits throughout the Holy Year, even daily, acquiring a plenary indulgence each time.

The Jubilee Plenary Indulgence can also be obtained through initiatives that put into practice, in a concrete and generous way, the spirit of penance which is, in a sense, the soul of the Jubilee. In particular the penitential nature of Friday can be rediscovered through abstaining, in a spirit of penance, at least for one day of the week from futile distractions (real but also virtual distractions, for example, the use of the media and/or social networks), from superfluous consumption (for example by fasting or practising abstinence according to the general norms of the Church and the indications of the Bishops), as well as by donating a proportionate sum of money to the poor; by supporting works of a religious or social nature, especially in support of the defence and protection of life in all its phases, but also by supporting the quality of life of abandoned children, young people in difficulty, the needy or lonely elderly people, or migrants from various countries “who leave their homelands behind in search of a better life for themselves and for their families” (Spes non confundit, 13); it can also be obtained by dedicating a reasonable portion of one’s free time to voluntary activities that are of service to the community or to other similar forms of personal commitment.

Official Vatican Decree from Apostolic Penitentiary on how to obtain indulgences during the 2025 Jubilee Year

Panoramic of St. Peter's Basilica and Colonnade (photo by Andrew Magill)

• ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST AND ST. DOMINIC PILGRIMAGE FOR CANONIZATION OF BL. CARLO ACUTIS: APRIL 2025

• ST. MARY FWB AND ST. PETER PILGRIMAGE WITH FR. DOUG MARTIN: OCOTBER 6-19, 2025

• USCCB PILGRIMAGE FOR CATECHISTS: SEPTEMBER 23-OCTOBER 2, 2025

Check out episode 92 of the Gaudium et Spes podcast to hear Bishop Wack explain the significance of this moment in the life of the Church.

page last updated February 1, 2025