Jubilee 2025

We are now at the end of the first month of the Jubilee Year, the first Jubilee of the new Millennium. The Priory has prepared what we hope is a useful explanation of the Jubilee and how to make the most of the spirtual graces that offered to the Faithful during this holy year.

What is a Jubilee Year?

The principal purpose of the Jubilee is for the Church to extend Her mercy to sinners, to us all. This She does though pilgrimage and the doctrine of Indulgences, the remission of the penalties of sins already forgiven.

There seems to be much confusion about the gaining of Indulgences. Several people, even with the Order, seem to think you can only get one in the whole year. This is simply not the case! The Church is infinitely generous! The Indulgence may be gained daily, and applied to the Holy Souls in Purgatory, a great act of charity. Exceptionally in this year, thanks to the merciful generosity of the Holy Father Pope Francis, the Indulgence may be gained twice in a day, under specific conditions, this second Indulgence only applicable to the Holy Souls. For yourself, you obviously only need one, assuming you fulfil the conditions of a Plenary Indulgence. If not it is only partial. - We shall explain all this later on.

The origin of the Jubilee comes from Jewish practice, the day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, celebrated once a year. In the Bible we find reference to this being celebrated more solemnly every 50 years. The name “jubilee” derives from the “yobel” – the rams horn which proclaimed the start of the year in the Jewish temple.

In 1300, Pope Boniface VIII called the first Jubilee, also known as a “Holy Year,” since it is a time in which God’s holiness transforms us. The frequency of Holy Years has changed over time: at first, they were celebrated every 100 years; later, in 1343 Pope Clement VI reduced the gap between Jubilees to every 50 years, and in 1470 Pope Paul II made it every 25 years. There have also been “extraordinary” Holy Years: for example, in 1933 Pope Pius XI chose to commemorate the 1900th anniversary of the Redemption, and in 2015 Pope Francis proclaimed the Year of Mercy as an extraordinary Jubilee. The way in which Jubilee Years are marked has also changed through the centuries: originally the Holy Year consisted of a pilgrimage to the Roman Basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul, later other signs were added, such as the Holy Door. By participating in the Holy Year, one is granted a Plenary Indulgence.

Generally a Jubilee will, since the 15th century, be celebrated two or three times in a normal lifetime. We should make the most of them.

A Simple Explanation of Indulgences

It may be useful here to give a simple explanation of the meaning of a doctrine which has been more greatly misunderstood than any other in the Church’s history. Rightly understood, the Church’s teaching about Indulgences opens new vistas of the inestimable mercy of God.

Children by their very nature have an irresistible attraction to throwing stones. Imagine your child goes out into the street and in a vindictive moment, perhaps, hurls a rock through the window of your house. Your anger is righteous: and the boy, partly from fear and partly because he realises that he has done something irreparable, tells you he is sorry and asks your forgiveness. When you have cooled down little you say something like this: “Well, as you are sorry, I will forgive you. But remember the damage is done; and you must pay me £1 a week out of your pocket money for the next two months.” Later on, if you are an indulgent parent, you will put your hand in your pocket and give him perhaps a £5 note towards the fund for the new pane of glass.

It is something like that when we commit sin: for all sin is an offence against God. We say that we are sorry. God, the most loving of all Fathers, at once forgives us: but the damage has been done and reparation must be made.

We owe Him a debt after our sin has been forgiven – called temporal punishment. The Church has always made this quite clear to Her children, and in the early days of Her history instituted that canonical penance which had to be completed before the erring member of the fold was restored to full membership of the Church. The debt must be paid either in this life, by acts of penance, suffering and prayer, or in the next, by Purgatorial fire.

But there is also another way! To return to our analogy, like the indulgent parent, God can bestow upon us the wherewithal to pay off part or the whole of what we owe, the £5 note. And that is exactly what happens when we gain an Indulgence. It is a remission of part or the whole of the temporal punishment which remains due to sin after it has been forgiven.

The Church acts in God’s name. All power has been given to Her, to Peter and to his successors. When the Pope grants an Indulgence, he is exercising that authority given to him by Our Lord to bind and to loose, and he is applying the great treasury of the inexhaustible merits of Christ and the Saints to us as individuals. We must show ourselves deserving of such untold benefits and that is indicated by our sincerity and zeal in performing those little acts of prayer, or pilgrimage or penance to which the Indulgences are annexed. And nobody can possibly gain an Indulgence from God or His Church until he has been forgiven by going to Confession.

In short, a plenary Indulgence is a grace granted by the Catholic Church through the merits of Jesus Christ to remove the temporal punishment due to sin.

The Jubilee Indulgence marks the outpouring of a great stream of remission. In his Bull announcing the Jubilee, Pope Francis writes:

“This experience of full forgiveness cannot fail to open our hearts and minds to the need to forgive others in turn. Forgiveness does not change the past; it cannot change what happened in the past, yet it can allow us to change the future and to live different lives, free of anger, animosity and vindictiveness. Forgiveness makes possible a brighter future, which enables us to look at the past with different eyes, now more serene, albeit still bearing the trace of past tears.” (Spes non Confundit, 23).

The Spiritual gifts of this Year

The Holy Year is the gift of God which Our Lord offers us through His Vicar. For what is the Holy Year if not an insistence upon the mystery of the Redemption? It gives men a chance of following the woman of Samaria, to cease looking for water in the well at Sichar, symbol of earthly happiness, pleasure, riches, and honours, and to turn to Him, Who is ever saying: “If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink” (Jn 12:37).

The Holy Father, in the Bull proclaiming the Holy Year, makes it clear to us that in the traditional way 2025 will be a year of great remission of the temporal punishment which remains due to sins that have been forgiven. The Jubilee Indulgence has been described as being not ‘just ‘plenary’ but ‘the most plenary’.

In what way is the Jubilee Indulgence to be preferred to the ordinary plenary Indulgences regularly offered by the Church? In the first place, this year the Church allows you to obtain a second Plenary Indulgence each day for the benefit of the Holy Souls in Purgatory. This has a two-fold significance; it directs our eyes to the central sanctuary of our Faith and stresses our responsibility with regard to the ‘Church Suffering’. This second Indulgence must be accompanied by an act of charity towards the Dead.

So the Holy Father has invited us to Rome?

This is but one aspect of the Holy Year, albeit an integral and supremely important one. There is, however, a second one. Its special purpose, says the Holy Father, is to summon all the faithful not only to expiate their faults and amend their lives but also to lead them to acquire virtue and holiness according to the words of Holy Scripture: ‘Sanctify yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God.’

We must multiply our prayers and our works of penance and charity. 2025 should be a Holy Year for all the world, and whether we are able to accept the invitation to Rome or not, we should see to it that we play our part, however small, in the work of sanctifying a world that has drifted far from holiness. In the words of the Holy Father’s prayer: “May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope, a yearning for the treasures of heaven.”

Conditions needed for the Indulgence

In order to obtain any of the plenary Indulgences, the following conditions must be fulfilled:

1. Detachment from all sin, even venial. (This must be genuine, but avoiding fruitless scrupulosity.)

2. A visit must be made to a designated church, with a period of prayer ideally before the Tabernacle, or some other act performed (see below), accompanied by pious reading, especially of the documents of the Vatican Council II and recent teaching.

3. Sacramental Confession must be made either on the same day as the work is completed or a few days before or afterwards (normally up to a week either way, one confession satisfies several Indulgences).

4. Holy Communion must be received during the Holy Year (this is only to gain one single Indulgence, otherwise one Holy Communion daily for each Indulgence).

5. Prayers for the intentions of the Pope must be said. This condition is usually fulfilled by reciting the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory be. (Note this must be repeated for the second Indulgence in one day.)

Second daily Indulgence

To gain the second Indulgence daily for the Dead, a second Holy Communion made at Mass is required, with the other usual conditions as above repeated, and an act of charity to the Deceased (such as having them as your Mass intention, or visiting a grave, or asking to have a Mass said).

More beneficial acts

The Pope calls us further to beneficial acts of virtue, by which we may gain the Indulgence without even the visit to a church. They are perhaps particularly relevant to the Order of Malta. These have been described by the Vatican as fasting, defending life and volunteering in good works:

• Abstaining for at least one day a week from “futile distractions,” such as social media or television, ideally on a Friday

• Fasting from food or sleep (in addition to the Friday abstinence)

• Donating “a proportionate sum of money to the poor”

• Supporting religious or social works, especially in the defence of life from conception to natural death

• Offering support to migrants, the elderly, the poor, young people in difficulty, and abandoned children

• Volunteering in service to your community

Works of Mercy

The Jubilee Year is a time when Catholics are especially encouraged to practice the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Apostolic Penitentiary lists visiting prisoners, spending time with lonely elderly people, aiding the sick or disabled, and helping those who are in need as instances to obtain an Indulgence. Practicing the works of mercy, it says, is “in a sense making a pilgrimage to Christ present in them.”

Indulgences for works of mercy can be received multiple times throughout the jubilee year, even daily, according to the decree.

If the Indulgence is being applied to the deceased, two plenary Indulgences can be obtained on the same day. The decree says: “Despite the rule that only one plenary Indulgence can be obtained per day, the faithful who have carried out an act of charity on behalf of the souls in purgatory, if they receive holy Communion a second time that day, can obtain the plenary indulgence twice on the same day, applicable only to the deceased.”

Formation in the Church’s Teaching

The Vatican decree also says that Catholics can get a jubilee indulgence “if with a devout spirit, they participate in popular missions, spiritual exercises, or formation activities on the documents of the Second Vatican Council and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, held in a church or other suitable place, according to the mind of the Holy Father.”

Gaining the Indulgence in Rome

There are four Holy Doors (St Peters, St John Lateran, St Paul without the Walls, St Mary Major) The “full” pilgrimage is to visit all four doors, one per day, but this does NOT increase the Indulgences. You could do them all in one place. These doors are solemnly opened by or on behalf of the Pope at the start of the Holy Year, and sealed afterwards.

To go to the Holy Doors you need to register HERE: https://register.iubilaeum2025.va/registration

It’s like booking a time-slot going to an exhibition, and is free. you get a QR code to show at the door. This avoids the ghastly queues of the 2000 Jubilee.

Gaining the Indulgence in your home diocese

The same conditions as the Roman pilgrimage, with a visit to the cathedral or one of the designated churches. The English bishops have been wonderfully generous in wide provision. These may be found on the website of your diocese. Note that this year, unlike 2000, there are no specific Holy Doors other than in Rome.

In Westminster the churches are:

• St Gregory the Great, South Ruislip

• St Mary & St Joseph, Poplar

• Corpus Christi, Covent Garden

• The Shrine of Our Lady of Willesden

• Our Lady, Queen of Apostles, Welwyn Garden City

In Southwark they are here: https://www.rcsouthwark.co.uk/faith/jubilee-2025/designated-jubilee-churches-and-shrines/

Gaining the Indulgence for the Housebound

Those unable to leave their homes may gain the Indulgence, under the same conditions, by an act of charity, particularly for the Dead, and private prayer and spiritual reading, and prayer for the Pope’s intentions. Holy Communion and Confession should be made as soon as possible.