On Dec. 24, 2024, Pope Francis formally launched the jubilee year when he opened the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
This special jubilee is a time for renewal, reflection and spiritual growth, offering Catholics an opportunity to deepen their faith and experience God’s grace in profound ways. It runs through Jan. 6, 2026.
A holy year or jubilee is a time of pilgrimage, prayer, repentance and acts of mercy, based on the Old Testament tradition of a jubilee year of rest, forgiveness and renewal. Holy years also are a time when Catholics can make pilgrimages to designated churches and shrines, recite special prayers, go to confession and receive Communion to receive a plenary indulgence, which is a remission of the temporal punishment due for one’s sins.
Throughout the year, local parishes have hosted events to mark the Jubilee of Hope and the holy year, and there is still time for Catholics to take advantage of the graces associated with the year.
The Holy See has hosted special pilgrimage events in Rome for groups such as young people, deacons, those involved in sports and entrepreneurs throughout the year, and those will continue through the end of the jubilee year. Jubilee groups usually gather with the pope and receive a special message.
Unlike in previous jubilee years, the only holy doors that are open are in Rome at St. Peter’s Basilica, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major and St. Paul Outside the Walls. Pope Francis also opened a holy door in Rome’s Rebibbia prison complex on Dec. 26, 2024.
Opening the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica has been a fixture of the Catholic Church’s celebration of jubilee years since the Holy Year 1450, according to the Vatican.
For those who cannot travel to Rome, the Archdiocese of Chicago identified 24 jubilee pilgrimage sites at local parishes for the faithful to obtain plenary indulgences. Catholics can obtain the indulgence by spending time in prayer or adoration before the Blessed Sacrament or participating in the celebration of the Eucharist or reconciliation or other scheduled liturgies, as well as making a profession of faith and praying for the pope’s intentions.
St. Clement Parish, 642 W. Deming Place, developed a “passport” for pilgrims. The small booklets that explain what a jubilee year is and offer “key visitation points” at their church, along with information about and visitation points for other nearby pilgrimage sites.
“We really wanted to make sure that people not only celebrated this holy year with us, but also with the wider church of Chicago,” said Elise Giles, the parish’s evangelization and young adult leader.
Over the summer, young adults from St. Clement walked from their parish church to St. Mary of the Lake Church, another archdiocesan jubilee church located two miles north.
“We thought it would be a great way to introduce, or reintroduce, the idea of pilgrimage, which we know is such a rich tradition in our faith,” Giles said. “We also thought it would be a great way to connect with another community in Chicago, because the St. Mary of the Lake young adult community actually joined us for that.”
The event was so successful that the young adults asked if they could do it monthly.
Holy Name Cathedral is another of the local pilgrimage churches.
“We’ve had more people, in my opinion, come for confessions on the weekends, on Saturday mornings,” said Father Andrew Matijevic, associate pastor.
Some groups also have come on their own for regular Masses for the jubilee.
“The fact that a jubilee only happens every 25 years is a good catalyst to do something different,” Matijevic said. “This jubilee theme being hope, we look around the world sometimes we [seem to be] in a hopeless situation, so by participating in the jubilee, you renew your call to be a person of hope.”
There is still time to make a local pilgrimage and receive the indulgence for yourself or a loved one before the end of the year, he said.
“Mercy never runs out,” Matijevic said.
The faithful can receive a plenary indulgence by making a pilgrimage to one of the designated churches during the jubilee year while fulfilling the necessary conditions. To learn more, visit pvm.archchicago.org/jubilee-2025.