Jubilee 2025: a people who walk through the world in the light of hope

by Stefano Lodigiani

Rome (Agenzia Fides) - What, or rather who, was the long procession of people looking for who, on the evening of December 29, in communion with the Bishop of Rome and the whole Church, walked the streets and squares of the cities and dioceses of the world, following a cross, a book and their Pastor? On a Sunday during the Christmas period, when families usually gather with relatives and friends, many left their homes to set out, perhaps despite the severity of winter and the onset of darkness, to begin a special period that bears an ancient name: the Holy Year.

Among them were young and old, families, confraternities, ecclesial movements, children on their parents' shoulders and elderly people in wheelchairs, people with uncertain steps supporting each other, all gathered together, understanding the meaning of the moment they were experiencing.

In a way, they recalled "the people who walk in darkness" waiting for "the great light" described by the prophet Isaiah. But here the darkness was illuminated by the lit candles that each one carried, the light of the risen Christ communicated to us through Baptism, and by the companions who walked with them: the multitude of saints, Blesseds and martyrs invoked by the singing of the litany.

The earthly Church, as in the most important and delicate periods of its history, invoked the intercession of the heavenly Church to follow the only path that leads to the encounter with the Father through the Son: He is the only door to reach the Father.

We will never know what mark this expression of faith left by a Church that emerges from sacred buildings onto the streets of the world. Among the people shopping in the shops or crowded into the cafes as the procession passed, some came out and others continued with their business. Perhaps some wondered what all these people were doing behind a cross moving in its nakedness through the Christmas lights of the streets and shops.

The answer came when, at the end of the procession, the bishop, at the door of the Cathedral, raised the crucified Christ and proclaimed: “Hail, Cross of Christ, our only hope. You are our hope, we will never perish.”

The impressive participation of priests, seminarians, religious men and women, civil and military authorities and, above all, the large number of faithful who filled the streets, squares and cathedrals of the dioceses all over the world, astonished even some bishops.

In the face of statistical and sociological surveys that, starting from the countries of the “old continent” of Europe, proclaim the end of Catholicism, many find in Christ, who died and rose on the Cross, in his word proclaimed to us in the Gospels, and in the ecclesial “community of the baptized” gathered around their bishop, the hope that others cannot give.

Hope is the main message of the 2025 Jubilee, as Pope Francis wrote in the Bull of Indiction “Spes non confundit” (“Hope does not disappoint”; Rom 5:5). May the light of Christian hope reach every person, as a message of God’s love addressed to all! And may the Church in every part of the world be a faithful witness to this message!” (SNC 6)

Historical documents show that at the beginning of 1300 century many pilgrims came to Rome to obtain the forgiveness of sins. Pope Boniface VIII, impressed by their faith, issued the Bull proclaiming the Holy Year on February 22, 1300. The first Jubilee in the history of the Church was born from a spontaneous impulse of the People of God, moved by the Holy Spirit.

The 25th Ordinary World Jubilee was also inaugurated under the sign of a People of God who took to the streets, following the voice of the same Spirit that has animated the Church for two thousand years. “It is the Holy Spirit, in fact, who, with his constant presence in the pilgrim Church, spreads the light of hope among the faithful. He keeps it burning like a torch that never goes out, giving support and strength to our lives. In fact, Christian hope does not deceive and does not disappoint, because it is founded on the certainty that nothing and no one can ever separate us from divine love… (SNC 3). (Agenzia Fides, 18/1/2025)

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