Spanning from Dec 24, 2024 to Jan 6, 2026, this 2025 Jubilee Year has been given the theme “Pilgrims of Hope.” In honor of this celebratory years, the Church has decided to open up unique opportunities to gain plenary indulgences. And, as we may expect, these special grants focus on faith-filled pilgrimages as well as cultivating hope. In this Part 1 we well be looking at the Jubilee indulgences offered within the official decree that has been provided by the Church.
In this Part 1 of our examination we will go through the official document, release by the Church, regarding the 2025 Jubilee indulgences. We will examine:
The Jubilee Year (What a Jubilee Year is and it's relationship to other celebratory years)
The Official Decree (Link)
The Decree Introduction (paraphrase of the first paragraph)
I. Pilgrimages (chart of indulgenced location and action combinations)
II.- Pious visits to sacred places (differences between Pilgrimages and Pious visits, another chart of combinations, and addressing the impeded)
III.-Works of mercy and penance (Other available indulgences and information)
The Jubilee Year
According to the Holy See a Jubilee Year is a year “For the Church the Jubilee is a year of special grace, of remission of sins and the punishment due to them, a year of reconciliation between disputing parties.” Jubilees years are proclaimed every 25 years.
I’d like to note that; even though this is the first Jubilee year since 25 years ago, it is not uncommon for the Church to declare years that are in between as years of celebration for other reasons. Ex: Year of Prayer in 2024, Year of St. Joseph in 2021, Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2015, Year of the Rosary in 2002. In years like this, it’s also possible for other avenues for gaining indulgences to be offered. Som if you are like me, and some of the aspects and events that happen this year seem familiar to you (as in you remember them happening within the past 25 years) this may be why.
Official Decree
The Pope has released an official document for the indulgences of this event, which is titled: “Decree on the Granting of Indulgence during the Ordinary Jubilee Year 2025 called by His Holiness Pope Francis, 13.05.2024.” This information is the most direct source on the indulgences of this special occasion, and it is provided HERE for you to consult freely if you have any questions or would like to read it yourself. (Also published as a blog post HERE)
Decree Introduction
This Decree starts off by introducing the year’s theme (pilgrims of hope). It describing how indulgences are linked to God’s mercy. It expresses the Pope’s desire to indicate indulgences for this year (plenary indulgences specifically); for the faithful to take advantage of. And, of course, it summarizes the requirements for a plenary indulgence.
“All the faithful, who are truly repentant and free from any affection for sin (...), who are moved by a spirit of charity and who, during the Holy Year, purified through the sacrament of penance and refreshed by Holy Communion, pray for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff, will be able to obtain from the treasury of the Church a plenary indulgence, with remission and forgiveness of all their sins, which can be applied in suffrage to the souls in Purgatory in the following ways:”
I. Pilgrimages
Pilgrimages open the firsts of the Jubilee indulgences. The indulgence reads: “The faithful, pilgrims of hope, will be able to obtain the Jubilee Indulgence granted by the Holy Father if they undertake a pious pilgrimage: to any sacred Jubilee site (*locations listed): by devoutly participating (*actions listed)
So, to keep this short and sweet, I’ve done my best to create a table that should show all of the options that we have (that the Church endorses and offers to us) to gain this Jubilee plenary indulgence by way of pilgrimage.
Indulgenced Pilgrimages | |
Any one location and any one action combined will provide a Jubilee indulgence. | |
Participating in Holy Mass (a Votive Masses: for Reconciliation, for the Remission of Sins, for the Promotion of Charity or to Foster Harmony are especially recommended); | Visit St. Peter’s in the Vatican as a pilgrimage destination (Major Papal Basilica, in Rome) |
Participating in a ritual Mass for the conferral of the sacraments of Christian Initiation or the Anointing of the Sick | Visit the Archbasilica of the Holy Saviour as a pilgrimage destination (aka. St John Lateran’s) (Major Papal Basilica, in Rome) |
[Do] a celebration of the Word of God | Visit Saint Mary Major’s as your pilgrimage destination (Major Papal Basilica, in Rome) |
[Do] the Liturgy of the Hours (office of readings, lauds, vespers) | Visit St. Paul’s Outside the Walls as a pilgrimage destination (Major Papal Basilica, in Rome) |
[Do]the Via Crucis (aka. Stations of the Cross) | Visit the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem as a pilgrimage destination |
[Do] the Marian Rosary | Visit the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem as a pilgrimage destination |
[Do] the recitation of the Akathist hymn; | Visit the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth as a pilgrimage destination |
[Do] a penitential celebration (which ends with the individual confessions of the penitents, as established in the Rite of Penance (form II)) | Visit a Cathedral or other church or sacred place designated by the local Ordinary as a pilgrimage destination |
II.- Pious visits to sacred places
Pius Visits to Sacred Places open the second of the Jubilee indulgences. This part of the decree has very similar information to the pilgrimage part of the decree. So much so that it may have us wondering why these two parts were separated in the first place! However I believe that these paragraphs are separated because, technically, a Pious visit is not a Pilgrimage. A pilgrimage has been defined by some Catholic sources as such: ‘a journey, especially a long one, made to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion; as to pay homage’. This types of pilgrimages entails at least a sacred place as a destination and an internal spiritual journey while going there.
Now, a pious visit, on the other hand may be seen as a lesser degree of this. For example, someone may be journeying to the same church that I casually go to for Sunday Mass. They would be considered pilgrims, while I would be “piously visiting” that same church. Or, imagine the citizens of Rome, who go to one of the four Major Papal Basilicas every week or more to fulfill their usual habits of attending Mas. Would they be seen as ‘pilgrims’ every time they went to this Basilica? Or would we consider that to be a usual pious visit by someone who lives close by?
This is not to say that we can’t pilgrim to a location that is close, but hopefully you get the point I am trying to make, that visits and pilgrimages are not necessarily the same.
Anyway, like I said, the information of this second part is very similar to the information of the first part. So much so that it makes sense to repeat the exercise from above, in order to show all the different combinations that may lead to an indulgence. Note: In this next chart all actions are the same, with one action added. Also none of the locations are the same except, perhaps, the Cathedral, church, or sacred place designated by the local Ordinary.
Indulgenced Pious Visits to Sacred Places | |
Any one location and any one action combined will provide a Jubilee indulgence. | |
Participating in Holy Mass (a Votive Masses: for Reconciliation, for the Remission of Sins, for the Promotion of Charity or to Foster Harmony are especially recommended); | the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem (in Rome) |
Participating in a ritual Mass for the conferral of the sacraments of Christian Initiation or the Anointing of the Sick | the Basilica of St Lawrence at the Verano (in Rome) |
[Do] a celebration of the Word of God | the Basilica of St Sebastian (in Rome) |
[Do] the Liturgy of the Hours (office of readings, lauds, vespers) | (the traditional visit to "the seven Churches of Rome", so close to the heart of St Philip Neri is also highly recommended) (in Rome) |
[Do] the Via Crucis (aka. Stations of the Cross) | the Sanctuary of Divine Love (the ‘Divino Amore’) (in Rome) |
[Do] the Marian Rosary | the Church of the Holy Spirit in Sassia (in Rome) |
[Do] the recitation of the Akathist hymn; | the Church of St Paul at the Tre Fontane (the site of the Martyrdom of the Apostle) (in Rome) |
[Do] a penitential celebration (which ends with the individual confessions of the penitents, as established in the Rite of Penance (form II)) | the Roman Catacombs (in Rome) |
If, individually or in a group, [the faithful] devoutly visit any Jubilee site and there, for a suitable period of time, engage in Eucharistic adoration and meditation, concluding with the Our Father, the Profession of Faith in any legitimate form, and invocations to Mary, the Mother of God | the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva (church... dedicated respectively to the Iter Europaeum and to the Female Patrons of Europe and Doctors of the Church) |
St Brigid at Campo de' Fiori (church... dedicated respectively to the Iter Europaeum and to the Female Patrons of Europe and Doctors of the Church) | |
Santa Maria della Vittoria (church... dedicated respectively to the Iter Europaeum and to the Female Patrons of Europe and Doctors of the Church) | |
Trinità dei Monti (church... dedicated respectively to the Iter Europaeum and to the Female Patrons of Europe and Doctors of the Church) | |
the Basilica of Saint Cecilia in Trastevere (church... dedicated respectively to the Iter Europaeum and to the Female Patrons of Europe and Doctors of the Church) | |
the Basilica of Sant'Augustine in Campo Marzio (church... dedicated respectively to the Iter Europaeum and to the Female Patrons of Europe and Doctors of the Church) | |
St Francis (Minor Papal Basilicas in Assisi) | |
Our Lady of the Angels (Minor Papal Basilicas in Assisi) | |
Our Lady of Loreto (Pontifical Basilica) | |
Our Lady of Pompeii (Pontifical Basilica) | |
St Anthony in Padu (Pontifical Basilica) | |
any minor basilica | |
Any cathedral church | |
Any co-cathedral church | |
Any Marian sanctuary | |
Any national or international sanctuaries | |
any distinguished collegiate church or sanctuary designated by the diocesan bishop or Eparchy |
Before ending this part of the Decree, the impeded are addressed:
“The faithful who are truly repentant of sin but who cannot participate in the various solemn celebrations, pilgrimages and pious visits for serious reasons (especially cloistered nuns and monks, but also the elderly, the sick, prisoners, and those who, through their work in hospitals or other care facilities, provide continuous service to the sick), can obtain the Jubilee Indulgence, under the same conditions if, united in spirit with the faithful taking part in person, (especially when the words of the Supreme Pontiff or the diocesan Bishop are transmitted through the various means of communication), they recite the Our Father, the Profession of Faith in any approved form, and other prayers in conformity with the objectives of the Holy Year, in their homes or wherever they are confined (e.g. in the chapel of the monastery, hospital, nursing home, prison...) offering up their sufferings or the hardships of their lives;”
III.-Works of mercy and penance
Works of mercy and penance open the third and last of the Jubilee indulgences. For this I will go paragraph by paragraph so as to not miss any important information. And there is a lot of important information here!
Paragraph 1. Those who participate in popular missions, spiritual exercises, or formation activities (specifically on documents of Vatican II and/or the Catechism) held in a church or other suitable place may obtain the Jubilee Indulgence
Paragraph 2. Despite the usual rule of one-plenary-indulgence-per-day, the faithful who have carried out an act of charity on behalf of the souls in Purgatory, if they receive Holy Communion (within a Eucharistic celebration: aka. Mass) a second time that day, can obtain the plenary indulgence twice on the same day, applicable only to the deceased
Paragraph 3. In Order to be a “tangible signs of hope for those of our brothers and sisters who experience hardships” the Indulgence is linked, and the faithful are encouraged to carry out works of charity or mercy. Especially “corporal works of mercy: to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, heal the sick, visit the imprisoned, and bury the dead." Also the "the spiritual works of mercy: to counsel the doubtful, instruct the ignorant, admonish sinners, comfort the afflicted, forgive offenses, bear patiently those who do us ill, and pray for the living and the dead"
Paragraph 4. “The faithful will be able to obtain the Jubilee Indulgence if they visit, for an appropriate amount of time, their brothers and sisters who are in need or in difficulty (the sick, prisoners, lonely elderly people, disabled people…).” “The faithful can repeat these visits throughout the Holy Year, even daily, acquiring a plenary indulgence each time.”
Paragraph 5. The Jubilee Plenary Indulgence can also be obtained through initiatives that put the spirit of penance into practice, in a concrete and generous way
In particular the penitential nature of Friday can be rediscovered through abstaining, in a spirit of penance, at least for one day of the week from futile distractions (real but also virtual distractions, for example, the use of the media and/or social networks),
from superfluous consumption (for example by fasting or practicing abstinence according to the general norms of the Church and the indications of the Bishops),
as well as by donating a proportionate sum of money to the poor;
by supporting works of a religious or social nature, especially in support of the defense and protection of life in all its phases, but also by supporting the quality of life of abandoned children, young people in difficulty, the needy or lonely elderly people, or migrants from various countries “who leave their homelands behind in search of a better life for themselves and for their families” (…);
it can also be obtained by dedicating a reasonable portion of one’s free time to voluntary activities that are of service to the community or to other similar forms of personal commitment.
Paragraph 6. All diocesan bishops and eparchs (*) on the occasion of the main celebration in the cathedral and in the individual jubilee churches, may impart the Papal Blessing with the attached plenary indulgence to the faithful.
The last paragraphs address priests and bishops, in hopes that they will make the sacrament of confession as available as possible and to educate and encourage the faithful whom they shepherd on what this decree offers.
This will conclude Part 1, where we have looked at the Jubilee indulgences and tried to itemize them. In Part 2 we will be breaking them down further and comparing them to non-jubilee-specific indulgences which are often available even outside of special years.
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