Pilgrims of Hope The Cross Learn more The Pilgrimage Learn more Junior Pilgrims Learn more Jubilee Events Learn more Indulgences Learn more The 2025 Jubilee will officially open on December 24, 2024, at Mass presided over by Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square in Rome. The rite of the Opening of the Holy Door will …
Pilgrims of Hope
The Cross
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The Pilgrimage
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Junior Pilgrims
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Jubilee Events
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Indulgences
Learn moreThe 2025 Jubilee will officially open on December 24, 2024, at Mass presided over by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. The rite of the Opening of the Holy Door will follow.
The Diocese of Alexandria observance of this year will begin on the Feast of the Holy Family, Sunday, December 29, with a procession at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral as mentioned by Bishop Marshall in his introduction below.
The information on this page and subsequent pages on this website pertain to the celebration of the Jubilee Year 2025 within our own Diocese of Alexandria.
Introduction
by Bishop Robert Marshall
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
“Spes non confundit – Hope does not disappoint.” With this quote from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, our Holy Father Pope Francis summons us as “Pilgrims of Hope” to celebrate 2025 as a Jubilee Year. Since the year 1300, the Church has invited the faithful to observe Jubilees – at first, every 100 years; later, every 50 years; and more recently, every 25 years. Recalling the Great Jubilee of the year 2000 proclaimed by Pope St. John Paul II, in which we joyfully welcomed the new millennium, Pope Francis calls us to look beyond the difficulties of the present age and to experience hope:
Everyone knows what it is to hope. In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring. Even so, uncertainty about the future may at times give rise to conflicting feelings, ranging from confident trust to apprehensiveness, from serenity to anxiety, from firm conviction to hesitation and doubt. Often we come across people who are discouraged, pessimistic and cynical about the future, as if nothing could possibly bring them happiness. For all of us, may the Jubilee be an opportunity to be renewed in hope.
As pilgrims of this renewed hope, we are invited to journey toward a prayerful encounter with the Lord at sacred spaces throughout the world – the four major basilicas in Rome, other historic and sacred sites in the Holy Land, and many other great churches all over the world. A pilgrimage to a sacred space is an ancient tradition. In St. Luke’s gospel, we are told that the Holy Family – Jesus, Mary and Joseph – travelled annually to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. Great Eucharistic Pilgrimages converged in Indianapolis this past summer for the National Eucharistic Congress, and “Walking with One” is the ongoing activity of this final year of the National Eucharistic Revival. In this diocese, I will designate St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Alexandria, the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Natchitoches, and several other local churches as Jubilee pilgrimage sites. Look for a “Pilgrim’s Passport” as a guide to these diocesan sites in the coming year. A true pilgrimage, however, is less about the number of miles travelled, and more about an authentic journey of the heart toward a new or deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. May our pilgrimages of hope in 2025 – whether long or short – draw us more closely to our loving God.
We will be building on the message of hope in other ways in the coming year. In the Diocese of Alexandria, we will soon begin a program of pastoral planning and discernment to help us come together as one church and to embrace a future of hope. Each parish and mission will be invited to acknowledge their particular blessings and challenges and discern how they might more effectively proclaim the Kingdom of God. Look for an announcement about this project on Tuesday, December 3, the Feast of St. Francis Xavier, our patron saint.
Another characteristic of a Jubilee Year is an emphasis on reconciliation and forgiveness. Each of us is invited to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation on a regular basis. The fountain of God’s mercy flows abundantly from the Sacred Heart of Christ – we are invited to drink from that fountain and to experience the grace of forgiveness offered to us by the Father. Our parishes will make a renewed effort to offer opportunities for celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation individually and we, as a Church, will be seeking God’s forgiveness for the sins of the past too often carried out in the name of the Church. More than that, we are encouraged to imitate the love and mercy of God by becoming a more forgiving people – leaving behind the grudges and grievances of the past and seeking reconciliation with those who may have hurt us.
A Jubilee Year also challenges us to put our faith into practice – by engaging in spiritual reading, studying the Bible or aspects of Sacred Tradition at your parish or at one nearby and by acts of charity and corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Our minds may expand in study and we may experience a closeness with the Lord in prayer and certainly in our reception of the Eucharist, but Jesus Himself invites us to encounter Him in the face of a brother or sister in need or our comfort, compassion or assistance. We will be inviting your participation in both efforts at growth and evangelization and in acts of charity and works of mercy throughout the year.
Our observance of this year will begin on the Feast of the Holy Family – Sunday, December 29 – with a procession to St. Francis Xavier Cathedral. Visit our website – www.diocesealex.org – or check out our Facebook or Instagram pages for the details of this and other Jubilee Year celebrations. May we draw closer together as one church in this Jubilee Year – closer to our ever-faithful God and closer to our brothers and sisters in faith. Embrace this year of hope!
Live Jesus in our hearts,
Most Reverend Robert W. Marshall, Jr.
Bishop of Alexandria
The Jubilee Logo
The logo shows four stylized figures, representing all of humanity, coming from the four corners of the earth. They embrace each other to indicate the solidarity and fraternity which should unite all peoples.
The figure at the front is holding onto the cross. It is not only the sign of the faith which this lead figure embraces, but also of hope, which can never be abandoned, because we are always in need of hope, especially in our moments of greatest need.
There are the rough waves under the figures, symbolizing the fact that life’s pilgrimage does not always go smoothly in calm waters. Often the circumstances of daily life and events in the wider world require a greater call to hope. That’s why we should pay special attention to the lower part of the cross which has been elongated and turned into the shape of an anchor which is let down into the waves. The anchor is well known as a symbol of hope. In maritime jargon the ‘anchor of hope’ refers to the reserve anchor used by vessels involved in emergency maneuvers to stabilize the ship during storms.
It is worth noting that the image illustrates the pilgrim’s journey not as an individual undertaking, but rather as something communal, marked by an increasing dynamism leading one ever closer to the cross. The cross in the logo is by no means static, but it is also dynamic. It bends down towards humanity, not leaving human beings alone, but stretching out to them to offer the certainty of its presence and the security of hope. At the bottom of the logo is the motto of the 2025 Jubilee Year: Pilgrims in hope, represented in green letters.
FROM THE USCCB:
As the Universal Church looks toward the Jubilee Year 2025 (the 2,025th anniversary of the Incarnation of our Lord), the USCCB is thrilled to support the Holy Father in this “event of great spiritual, ecclesial, and social significance in the life of the Church.”
Pope Francis stated in his February 2022 letter announcing the Jubilee 2025: “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…”
The Jubilee Year will offer the faithful opportunities to participate in various jubilee events at the Vatican and in their own dioceses. The great tradition of opening the Holy Door will begin when Pope Francis opens the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica on December 24, 2024. Other holy doors will be opened at the Rome basilicas of St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major and St. Paul Outside the Walls. For pilgrims who cannot travel to Rome, bishops around the world are expected to designate their cathedrals or a popular Catholic shrine as special places of prayer for Holy Year pilgrims, offering opportunities for reconciliation, indulgences and other events intended to strengthen and revive faith.
Pope Francis has asked that the year 2024 be dedicated to a “great symphony of prayer” as the Church prepares for the Jubilee of 2025. The Jubilee prayer can be found here.
Additional information about Jubilee events and materials can be found in the USCCB Calendar of Events, or on the Vatican website here. As information becomes available for specific initiatives of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, that information will be available on this web page.
