Jubilee 2025 is now properly underway, and local pilgrims hungry to know more about how to participate can find everything they need on a new ‘2025 Jubilee—Pilgrims of Hope’ webpage on the Melbourne Catholic website.
Pope Francis proclaimed the Jubilee Year with the words of St Paul in his Letter to the Romans, Spes Non Confundit—‘Hope does not disappoint’. In the papal bull issued ahead of the Holy Year, he reminded us that hope lives in each of us, declaring that the Jubilee, however it’s celebrated, is an opportunity to renew this hope.
There is no shortage of Pilgrim Places in our Archdiocese to make our own local journeys of reconciliation and renewal.
‘Pilgrims of Hope’ is the Jubilee 2025 motto. Archbishop Peter A Comensoli says it is an opportunity for the faithful to make a metaphorical pilgrimage, with Jesus both the path to be travelled and the destination.
Many will also make a physical pilgrimage to Rome, where the glorious churches and shrines that hold the memories of past pilgrims will inspire worship, prayer and renewal. Younger Catholics can find out more about the Archdiocese of Melbourne’s 2025 Jubilee of Youth Pilgrimage—an opportunity to make the journey of a lifetime.
The Holy Year is celebrated across the world, including right here in Melbourne, and there is no shortage of Pilgrim Places in our Archdiocese to make our own local journeys of reconciliation and renewal. See our ‘mother church’ St Patrick’s Cathedral with new eyes; visit relics associated with Australia’s first saint, Mary McKillop, at St Mary McKillop Church in Keilor Downs; worship with multicultural congregations at St Luke’s in Lalor; reflect on the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Our Lady of La Vang Shrine in Keysborough. To plan their pilgrimages, pilgrims can visit the websites of each Pilgrim Place to find out more about what is happening, and when.
Jubilee plenary indulgences are another feature of the local Jubilee celebrations, and the new webpage clearly outlines how pilgrims can obtain them for themselves and for their loved ones who have died. As part of the Jubilee Year, pilgrims may receive up to two plenary indulgences a day.
Pilgrims can get a special passport stamped at each location for a wonderful memento of their pilgrimage experience this Jubilee Year and a source of reflection for the future.
The Melbourne Catholic Archdiocese has made special passports available at each of the Pilgrim Places (for a suggested donation of $5). Pilgrims can take one and get it stamped at each location for a wonderful memento of their pilgrimage experience this Jubilee Year and a source of reflection for the future. Every month, a different commemorative postcard of a saint or revered Catholic figure will be available, and pilgrims are invited to spread their pilgrimages over several months to collect each of the beautifully illustrated cards over the course of the year.
Parishes, schools and communities of faith across the Archdiocese have access to specially developed resources to help plan their Jubilee celebrations. These include digital resources such as phone wallpapers featuring the Jubilee prayer and printable material like banners, posters and templates for flyers.
For the musically inclined, the hymn for the 2025 Jubilee is available on YouTube here.
The official Jubilee Prayer is available in English, as well as 18 other community languages—and even in the international auxiliary language Esperanto!
May this Jubilee Year of Hope be a time of reconciliation and renewal for all!
