Our temporary producer “Maternity Leave Matt” asks Father Dave about an upcoming event for the global Church. “One of my first days on the job here, I saw a headline for the upcoming Jubilee,” Matt says. “My question is, what is the Jubilee?”
Father Dave explains that a jubilee is a year-long celebration with biblical origins. “One of the fundamental principles that we see in the story of creation and throughout the Jewish law, largely in the book of Leviticus, is the notion of the cycle of time, weeks, seasons, and years,” he begins. “The rhythm of life is very important in the Jewish law, life, and faith practice, as is the actual rhythm of the seven days of the week. That seventh day is a day of rest.”
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He notes how some who strictly practice Judaism don’t do anything on the Sabbath day. “You don’t drive a car, go to work; in some ways, you don’t push a button or use a mechanical device. It’s a resting from everything. It’s like a reset, like when you have to restart your computer every week just to clear it out,” Father Dave says. The significance of this rhythm expanded to “seven sets of seven” in marking important seasons and lengths of time.
“The Jubilee would be after seven sets of seven years have passed by. So after 49 years, i.e. in the 50th year, there would be something similar to the Sabbath day reset of everything in life,” Father Dave says. This would include setting slaves free and forgiving debts.
He explains how the Catholic Church adopted this Jewish tradition. “[The Church] initially followed the Jewish law celebrating every 50 years, then made it every 25 just to do this a little more often,” Father Dave says. “It’s a year of favor from the Lord and a celebration.”
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One Catholic tradition in a Jubilee year is the opening of the Holy Doors in Rome. “There are four major basilicas in Rome, and as you can imagine, the main doors are these huge front doors. The main central door is not opened except during a jubilee year,” Father Dave says. “That’s one thing that sort of symbolically says, ‘Hey, this year is a little different.’”
The theme of the 2025 Jubilee is “Pilgrims of Hope.” Pope Francis explained the focus of the upcoming jubilee in a 2022 letter, stating, “We must fan the flame of hope that has been given us, and help everyone to gain new strength and certainty by looking to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart and far-sighted vision. The forthcoming Jubilee can contribute greatly to restoring a climate of hope and trust as a prelude to the renewal and rebirth that we so urgently desire.”
One unique element to the next year’s Jubilee is that, in addition to the four doors, Pope Francis will visit a prison to open a Holy Door. Father Dave quotes the Papal Bull (edict) announcing this and says, “Pope Francis said, ‘in order to offer prisoners a concrete sign of closeness, I would myself like to open a Holy Door in a prison as a sign inviting prisoners to look to the future with hope and a renewed sense of confidence.’ So in the Jubilee year, if it’s nothing else that has remained, it’s still supposed to be a special time of hope.”
