Vatican City. On 9 May 2024, in St Peter’s Basilica, the Holy Father Francis presided over the presentation and reading of the Bull of Indiction of the 2025 Jubilee, “Spes non confundit” and the Second Vespers of the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord.
The moment of delivery took place in the atrium of St Peter’s Basilica, in front of the Holy Door. After the liturgical greeting, the Pope introduced the celebration and symbolically delivered the Bull of Indiction of Jubilee 2025 “Spes non confundit” to the Archpriests of the Papal Basilicas, to some Representatives of the Church scattered throughout the world, and to the Apostolic Protonotaries. “May the Holy Spirit, promised by the Risen One, open our eyes to the gift of hope so that, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our life may be renewed by faith and love”, the Pope said.
Mons. Leonardo Sapienza, Dean of the College of Apostolic Protonotaries and Regent of the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household, then gave a reading of some significant passages of the Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee 2025:
“Spes non confundit”, “hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5). In the sign of hope, the Apostle Paul instilled courage in the Christian community of Rome. Hope is also the central message of the upcoming Jubilee, which according to ancient tradition the Pope announces every twenty-five years. I think of all the pilgrims of hope who will come to Rome to live the Holy Year and of those who, unable to reach the city of the Apostles Peter and Paul, will celebrate it in the local Churches. For all, may it be a moment of living and personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, the ‘door’ of salvation (cf. Jn 10:7.9); with Him, whom the Church has the mission of proclaiming always, everywhere, and to all as ‘our hope’ (1:1). (…)
Let us allow ourselves to be attracted by hope and allow it to become contagious through us for those who desire it. May our life tell them, “Hope in the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; hope in the Lord!” (Ps 27:14). May the power of hope fill our present, in trusting expectation of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom praise and glory will go now and for centuries to come”. (Complete Text)
Inside the Vatican Basilica, the Holy Father then presided over the celebration of the Second Vespers of the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. In the homily reaffirming the foundation of hope – Christ ascended to Heaven who “brings into the heart of God our humanity full of expectations and questions” – he invited us to prepare for this great event of the Church:
Dear brothers and sisters, in this Year of Prayer, as we prepare for the celebration of the Jubilee, let us lift up our hearts to Christ, and become singers of hope in a culture marked by much despair. By our actions, our words, the decisions we make each day, our patient efforts to sow seeds of beauty and kindness wherever we find ourselves, we want to sing of hope, so that its melody can touch the heartstrings of humanity and reawaken in every heart the joy and the courage to embrace life to the full.
What we – all of us – need, then, is hope. Hope does not disappoint: let us never forget this. Hope is needed by the society in which we live, often caught up only in the present and incapable of looking to the future. Hope is needed by our age, caught up in an individualism that is frequently content merely to scrape along from day to day. Hope is needed by God’s creation, gravely damaged and disfigured by human selfishness. Hope is needed by those peoples and nations who look to the future with anxiety and fear. As injustice and arrogance persist, the poor are discarded, wars sow seeds of death, the least of our brothers and sisters remain at the bottom of the pile, and the dream of a fraternal world seems an illusion. Hope is needed by our young people, often confused and uncertain, yet desirous of living lives of happiness and fulfilment. Hope is needed by the elderly, no longer revered or listened to by a culture obsessed with efficiency and excess. Hope too is needed by the sick and those who suffer in body and spirit; they can find comfort in our closeness and care.
Furthermore, dear brothers and sisters, hope is needed by the Church, so that when she feels wearied by her exertions and burdened by her frailty, she will always remember that, as the Bride of Christ, she is loved with an eternal and faithful love, called to hold high the light of the Gospel, and sent forth to bring to all the fire that Jesus definitively brought to the world.
Each of us has need of hope in our lives, at times so weary and wounded, our hearts that thirst for truth, goodness and beauty, and our dreams that no darkness can dispel. Everything, within and outside of us, cries out for hope and continues to seek, even without knowing it, the closeness of God.”
Important dates:
The Holy Door of Saint Peter will open on 24 December 2024, and will be closed on 6 January 2026. On 29 December 2024, Pope Francis will open the Holy Door of the Cathedral of St John Lateran, which on 9 November 2024, will celebrate the 1700 years of dedication.
“To follow, on 1 January 2025, the Solemnity of Mary Most Holy Mother of God, the Holy Door of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major will be opened. Finally, on Sunday, 5 January, the Holy Door of the Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls will be opened. These last three Holy Doors will be closed by Sunday 28 December of the same year”.
Moreover, the Pope said, “I establish that on Sunday 29 December 2024, in all cathedrals and co-cathedrals, the diocesan bishops celebrate the Holy Eucharist as the solemn opening of the Jubilee Year, according to the ritual that will be arranged for the occasion”.
The Ordinary Jubilee “will end with the closing of the Holy Door of the Papal Basilica of St Peter in the Vatican on 6 January 2026, Epiphany of the Lord”.
