By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
The year 2025 will be observed as a Jubilee Year centered on the theme “Pilgrims of Hope.” As Pope Francis so beautifully expressed it: "We must fan the flame of hope that has been given us and help everyone gain new strength and certainty by looking to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart and far-sighted vision."
Jubilee Years are traditionally proclaimed by the universal Church every 25 years since the first Jubilee was instituted by Pope Boniface VIII in 1300. Since then, the Church has designated each new Jubilee as a special year of grace and forgiveness, offering the faithful an opportunity to obtain a plenary indulgence.
The Jubilee Year 2025 marks the 2,025th anniversary of the Incarnation of our Lord. Also 2025 marks the 1700th anniversary of an event of great spiritual, ecclesial, and social significance in the life of the Church: the first Ecumenical Council, the Council of Nicaea. The Trinitarian and Christological confession of that Council —the Nicene Creed — is recited every Sunday by the faithful and acknowledges Jesus to be “true God from true God” and “consubstantial with the Father.” The Creed, faithful to the witness of the Scriptures, affirms that Jesus is really God, living among us, but also really a human being, born into a particular time and place in history and dying a real, historical death. This means that God did not think it compromises His power and majesty to come and share our lives. This belief informs our hope and directs us on our pilgrimage to our eternal destiny with God.
The Jubilee began on December 24, 2024, with the official opening of the Holy Door of Saint Peter’s Basilica, and will run to January 6, 2026, the Feast Day of Epiphany, with the closing of the Holy Door.
Rome expects to host millions of pilgrims who will travel there to participate in one or more activities organized there for different groups of the faithful. But for pilgrims who cannot travel to Rome, bishops around the world have designated their cathedrals or a popular Catholic shrine as special places of prayer for Jubilee Year pilgrims, offering opportunities for reconciliation, indulgences and other events intended to strengthen and revive faith.
Here in the Archdiocese of Miami, the following churches and shrines have been designated as special places of prayer for Jubilee Year Pilgrims.
- St. Mary’s Cathedral, Miami, 7525 NW 2nd Avenue, Miami
- The National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity (La Ermita), 3609 South Miami Avenue, Coconut Grove (Miami)
- Our Lady of Schoenstatt Shrine, 22800 SW 187th Ave, Homestead, FL 3317
- St. Mary Star of the Sea Basilica, 1010 Windsor Lane, Key West
- St. Clement Church, 2975 N. Andrews Avenue, Wilton Manors
- Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 11691 NW 25th Street, Doral
Groups of the faithful who wish to organize pilgrimages to one or more of the above designated churches or shrines should coordinate with the designated site so that the pilgrims can be properly welcomed and have access to the sacraments, especially confession.
For centuries a feature of Holy Year celebrations has been the granting of an indulgence, which the Church describes as a remission of the temporal punishment a person is due for their sins. The basic conditions to gain an indulgence are that a person is "moved by a spirit of charity," is "purified through the sacrament of penance and refreshed by Holy Communion" and prays for the pope.
As “pilgrims of hope” we pray that united in one faith in Jesus Christ and enflamed with charity by the Holy Spirit this Jubilee will reawaken our hope in the coming of the Kingdom of God.
