I was fortunate to spend the last two months back in Rome. It is a city that I know well having lived there for almost twenty years. It looked very different this time. The city seemed to be almost dominated by scaffolding. Wonderful focal points such as the Trevi Fountain, the interior of Peter’s Basilica and Piazza Navona were partially obscured due to restoration work. However, the scaffolding won’t be there for much longer. By Christmas Eve the work must be completed as on that date the Holy Year of Hope begins.
Our tradition of holy years or jubilees goes back to 1300. Prior to that Christians went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. War made that impossible, so Pope Boniface VIII invited people of faith to instead travel to Rome, where so many relics from the early days of Christianity are preserved. Initially, holy years were celebrated at the beginning of each century. However, they were later celebrated at twenty-five-year intervals, so that most people would have the opportunity to take part at least once during their lifetime.
The holy year of hope will begin when Pope Francis formally opens the holy door in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome on 24 December. That symbolic act will proclaim 2025 as a year of blessing and grace. Bishops throughout the world are invited to lead their faith communities in the celebration of Mass in their cathedrals on 29 December so that all believers and people of good may share in this special time.
The pope has chosen a phrase from St Paul’s letter to the Romans as the theme for this holy year. ‘Hope will not disappoint’ will be the mantra that will accompany us throughout 2025. In his document launching the holy year, the first sign of hope that the pope identifies is the desire for peace in our troubled world. Francis invites us to celebrate life in all its many and varied forms. Furthermore, we ‘need to recover the joy of living, since men and women, created in the image and likeness of God, cannot rest content with getting along one day at a time, settling for the here and now and seeking fulfilment in material realities alone.’
Pope Francis lists several concrete initiatives that would make 2025 hope filled. Perhaps controversially, the pope invites governments to consider reviving the ancient practise of granting some prisoners an amnesty as an expression of hope. He will open an additional holy door in Rebibbia prison on the outskirts of Rome on St Stephen’s Day.
Pope Francis invites Christians to extend ‘inclusive attention ….. to all those in particularly difficult situations, who experience their own weaknesses and limitations, especially those affected by illnesses or disabilities …. Care given to them is a hymn to human dignity, a song of hope’. He further expands on the theme of bringing hope to the margins by reminding us to reach out to the young who ‘face an uncertain and unpromising future, who lack employment or job security, or realistic prospects after finishing school’. He invites us to bring hope to migrants who are driven from their homes by recalling the Lord’s words “I was a stranger, and you welcomed me”. The pope also refers to the elderly ‘who frequently feel lonely and abandoned … Esteem for the treasure that they are, their life experiences, their accumulated wisdom and the contribution that they can still make, is incumbent on the Christian community and civil society’.
Forgiveness of debt is central to the jubilee tradition. Pope Francis invites affluent countries to ‘acknowledge the gravity of so many of their past decisions and determine to forgive the debts of countries that will never be able to repay them’. He adds that ‘a true “ecological debt” exists, particularly between the global North and South, connected to commercial imbalances with effects on the environment and the disproportionate use of natural resources by certain countries over long periods of time”.
Pilgrimage, particularly to Rome, is another feature of holy years. A series of special Roman celebrations is scheduled. The largest such celebration will be the jubilee for young people from 28 July until 3 August which will include a group from Killaloe diocese. Two men of faith, both of whom died while still young, Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati, will be declared saints during 2025.
The prayer that Pope Francis prepared for the holy year takes us its hope-filled heart:
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.
Amen
Fr. Albert McDonnell
Tradaree Pastoral Area.
Clare Champion Article 13th of December 2024