Everything you need to know about Jubilee 2025 in Rome: the meaning, how it works, how Rome is preparing, all the dates and the calendar of the Holy Year.
Jubilee 2025: countdown to the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican by Pope Francis, an act that will officially mark the beginning of the Jubilee Year.
For the occasion, Rome has decided to give itself a makeover, with the Councilor for Infrastructure and Public Works, Ornella Segnalini, who spoke of 72 completed interventions for 2024 alone, with another 69 road construction sites that are still underway.
Overall, between Jubilee funds, allocations from the Municipality, state funds and those provided for by the Pnrr, something like almost 3 billion euros have been made available to the city of Rome for Jubilee 2025.
Moreover, in the Capital, the beauty of 35 million arrivals and 105 million presences are expected on the occasion of the Jubilee 2025, for a turnover that in Rome should exceed 4 billion euros.
However, the Holy Year will be above all a profoundly mystical event for all the faithful, the moment of the remission of sins and reconciliation.
Here is a guide to the Jubilee 2025 with everything you need to know: from the meaning to the dates to the calendar of this great event of the Catholic Church.
What is the Jubilee: the meaning of the Holy Year
The Jubilee is a great event of the Catholic Church, celebrated for the first time in 1300 by will of Pope Boniface VIII. It is the year of the remission of sins, but also of reconciliation between the contenders, of conversion and of sacramental penance.
The Jubilee is also called "Holy Year", it can be ordinary that falls on the pre-established date or extraordinary if called for special reasons.
The name derives from the Hebrew Jobel - goat, in reference to the ram’s horn used in sacred ceremonies - thus taking up what is the Jewish Jubilee, a tradition that set a year of rest for the land every 50 years.
How often does the Jubilee take place and why
Initially Boniface VIII had established that the Jubilee should be held every 100 years: during the Holy Year, plenary indulgence was granted to all Romans who had visited the Basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul Outside the Walls fifteen times - thirty if they were Romans - for the entire duration of the year 1300.
In 1350, however, Pope Clement VI decided to shorten the cadence to 50 years as happened for the Jewish Jubilee, with the anniversary then lowered to 33 years by the will of Pope Urban VI until the current 25 years decided by Pope Paul II.
The year 2025 will thus be the twenty-fifth ordinary universal Jubilee in the history of the Catholic Church, while previously in 2015 there was the extraordinary Jubilee of mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis.
How does the 2025 Jubilee work? Everything you need to know
The Jubilee 2025 will last a little more than a year as per centuries-old tradition: from the previous Christmas (December 25, 2024) until the following Epiphany (January 6, 2026).
The most anticipated and most famous event is the opening of the holy doors - present in the four major Basilicas of Rome, namely St. Peter’s, St. Paul’s, St. John and St. Mary Major -, which are normally walled up and are opened only on the occasion of the Jubilee.
The beginning of the Holy Year occurs with the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, with the other three being opened later. Except for the extraordinary one in 2015, the 2025 Jubilee will be the first celebrated by Pope Francis, after the one in 2000 officiated by John Paul II.
The rite of the Holy Door is highly symbolic, as it expresses the concept that throughout the Jubilee period the faithful are offered an "extraordinary path" towards salvation, with the Pope granting a general pardon under certain conditions to the faithful.
Then, in January 2022, the Vatican announced that the motto chosen by Pope Francis for the 2025 Jubilee is "Pilgrims of Hope", with the Pontiff later explaining this decision in a letter.
We must keep the torch of hope that has been given to us alight, and do everything we can to ensure that everyone regains the strength and certainty to look to the future with an open mind, a trusting heart and a farsighted mind. The next Jubilee will be able to greatly help rebuild a climate of hope and trust, as a sign of a renewed rebirth that we all feel the urgency of. This is why I chose the motto Pilgrims of Hope.
The Jubilee 2025 anthem was chosen through a competition, which is also entitled Pilgrims of Hope and was composed by Francesco Meneghello from Mantua while the text is by the theologian, musicologist and composer Pierangelo Sequeri.
Finally, the Jubilee 2025 logo was chosen through a competition: the one designed by Giacomo Travisani won, chosen directly by Pope Francis from 294 proposals from 48 different countries.
The calendar of the most anticipated events of the Jubilee 2025
The Jubilee 2025 calendar has also been known for some time: below are the dates of all the events that will take place during the Holy Year, with the pdf format that can be consulted and downloaded via the box at the bottom of the paragraph.
DECEMBER 2024
- December 24, 2024 – Opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica
JANUARY-APRIL 2025
- January 24-26 | Jubilee of the World of Communication
- February 8-9 | Jubilee of the Armed Forces, Police and Security
- February 16-18 | Jubilee of Artists
- February 21-23 | Jubilee of Deacons
- March 8-9 | Jubilee of the World of Volunteering
- March 28 | 24 Hours for the Lord
- March 28-30 | Jubilee of the Missionaries of Mercy
- April 5-6 | Jubilee of the Sick and the World of Health
- April 25-27 | Jubilee of Adolescents
- April 28-30 | Jubilee of Persons with Disabilities
MAY – AUGUST 2025
- May 1-4 | Jubilee of Workers
- May 4-5 | Jubilee of Entrepreneurs
- May 10-11 | Jubilee of Musical Bands
- May 16-18 | Jubilee of Confraternities
- May 24-25 | Jubilee of Children
- May 30 – June 1 | Jubilee of Families, Grandparents and the Elderly
- June 7-8 | Jubilee of Movements, Associations and New Communities
- June 9 | Jubilee of the Holy See
- June 14-15 | Jubilee of Sports
- June 20-22 | Jubilee of Governments
- June 23-24 | Jubilee of Seminarians
- June 25 | Jubilee of Bishops
- June 26-27 | Jubilee of Priests
- June 28 | Jubilee of the Eastern Churches
- July 28 – August 3 | Jubilee of Youth
SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER 2025
- September 15 | Jubilee of Consolation
- September 20 | Jubilee of Justice Workers
- September 26-28 | Jubilee of Catechists
- October 5 | Jubilee of Migrants
- October 8-9 | Jubilee of Consecrated Life
- October 11-12 | Jubilee of Marian Spirituality
- October 18-19 | Jubilee of the Missionary World
- October 30 – November 2 | Jubilee of the Educational World
- November 16 | Jubilee of the Poor
- November 22-23 | Jubilee of Choirs and Choirs
- December 14 | Jubilee of Prisoners
- December 24, 2025 – Closing of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica
There will be many significant events in the next Holy Year. Just to name a few examples, from May 1st to 4th there will be the Jubilee of Workers, on May 24th and 25th that of Children, on June 28th that of the Eastern Churches, on October 5th that of Migrants and on October 11th and 12th that of Marian Spirituality.
