In the papal bull announcing the 2025 Jubilee Year, Pope Francis asks the faithful to find “suitable ways for the Holy Year to be planned and celebrated with deep faith, lively hope and active charity.”
To assist in this journey, the Diocese of St. Cloud presents the “Jubilee Passport: Pilgrims of Hope” project, sponsored by Catholic United Financial. This activity can be completed individually, as a family or as a group.
Just as the jubilee logo features “four stylized figures, representing all of humanity, coming from the four corners of the earth,” people are encouraged to pilgrimage across the diocese serving as beacons of hope ignited by prayers and actions.
By participating in these holy pilgrimages and practices, participants may be eligible to receive plenary indulgences. (Read Bishop Neary’s decree and see below to learn more about plenary indulgences).
Simply download a free pdf. Once you have completed a “stamp,” simply check off the related image.
Sacred Spaces and Sites
Our diocese is home to five religious communities and a variety of other sacred places. During the Jubilee Year, pilgrims are encouraged to visit the sites listed in the passport or come up with their own pilgrimage options. Additionally, the Bishop’s Choice stamp encourages pilgrims to visit other parishes around the diocese, particularly those in your Area Catholic Community that you have not yet or rarely visited.
The Works of Mercy
During the Jubilee Year, the Holy Father has encouraged people to make a dedicated effort to partake in the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.
Corporal Works of Mercy
- Spend time at a hospital, nursing home or with someone you know who is sick.
- Donate used clothing to a shelter, buy diapers for a pregnancy resource center or give away gently used winter garments to those in need.
- Help serve a meal at your parish or local organization or surprise a neighbor with a meal.
- Visit the grave of a loved one, ask for a Mass to be celebrated in their memory or pray for them in a special way.
Spiritual Works of Mercy
- Learn more about your faith by choosing to read a Catholic book.
- Write a letter or card to someone who is suffering or grieving.
- Participate in the sacrament of reconciliation.
- Keep a book of prayer intentions and write down all the names of the people you said you would pray for.
Pilgrim’s Choice
Each pilgrim is encouraged to engage in a devotion or faith practice such as praying a litany, rosary or spending time with the Blessed Sacrament. Or, use this “free space” to visit an unmentioned holy site or perform an additional act of mercy.
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Special thanks to our sponsor Catholic United Financial
Catholic United Financial is a member-owned, not-for-profit financial services organization, connecting people of faith, protecting their future and generously impacting parishes, schools and communities.
Pilgrims are invited to make a special stop during the year at CUF’s St. Cloud downtown location during normal business hours to pray, reflect on the theme of hope and visit with CUF staff.
Catholic United Financial Center
120 10th Ave. N., St. Cloud
Phone: 800-568-6670
Website: catholicunitedfinancial.org
For more information about the Jubilee Year and other related resources, visit https://stcdio.org/jubilee-2025-pilgrims-of-hope/.
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What is an indulgence?
By Jenna Marie Cooper | OSV News
Q: Please explain what an indulgence is and how it can reduce or eliminate the time a soul must spend in purgatory.
A: Indulgences are perhaps one of the more misunderstood parts of Catholic practice. But indulgences are deeply rooted in several key Catholic theological concepts, such as the nature of purgatory, the Church’s authority, the spiritual power of prayer and sacrifice and the communion of saints.
The Catechism of theCatholic Church gives us a quick working definition of an indulgence when it states: “Through indulgences the faithful can obtain the remission of temporal punishment resulting from sin for themselves and also for the souls in Purgatory.” (CCC, No. 1498)
Canon 992 of the Code of Canon Law further tells us: “A member of Christ’s faithful who is properly disposed and who fulfils certain specific conditions, may gain an indulgence by the help of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, authoritatively dispenses and applies the treasury of the merits of Christ and the Saints.“
Breaking this down into more practical terms, an indulgence is a spiritual benefit attached to certain pious acts specified by the Holy Father — such as, for example, visiting a designated pilgrimage site during a Jubilee Year which can eliminate (in the case of a “plenary indulgence“) or reduce (with a “partial indulgence“) the amount of time a soul spends in purgatory.
In addition to devoutly completing the pious act in question, the one seeking to earn a plenary indulgence must also:
- Pray for the pope’s intentions;
- Make a good confession and receive Holy Communion close to the time of earning the indulgence; and,
- Be sincerely repentant of their sins, to the point of no longer having any sense of attachment to sin.
While the process of earning an indulgence is relatively straightforward, the spiritual mechanics of how and why indulgences work can be a bit more subtle.
First of all, it’s important to keep in mind that souls in purgatory are all destined for heaven, and thus that they have already repented of and been forgiven for their sins. We also need to understand that, strictly speaking, purgatory is a state outside of linear time as we experience it on earth. So even though we speak of purgatory as a time of “temporal punishment,“ this does not mean that purgatory is akin to a jail sentence with indulgences being like a sort of parole.
Recalling the reminder of the Catechism of the Catholic Church that “every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death“ (CCC, No. 1472), we can more accurately understand purgatory as a phase of spiritual purification to prepare souls still affected by the spiritual consequences of their sins to enter eventually into the full presence of God in heaven.
Just as our prayers and sacrifices can help us and others grow closer to God in this life, the Church teaches that we can help the souls in purgatory move farther along on their spiritual journey even after their deaths. While our simple prayers can always help the souls in purgatory, indulgences are an especially powerful means of providing this kind of spiritual assistance.
Indulgences work because we believe that many of the Church’s saints already prayed, sacrificed and patiently suffered enough during their earthly lives to have already have been purified enough to enter heaven; and that all their additional good deeds on top of what was needed for their own salvation created a kind of “surplus“ of grace which the catechism refers to as “the Church’s treasury.” (CCC, No. 1476)
Because the Holy Father, as the successor to St. Peter, shares in St. Peter’s power to “bind and loose” (Matthew 16:19), the pope therefore has the power to distribute the extra grace in the Church’s treasury to souls that need it. Indulgences are essentially the means by which the
pope distributes these spiritual goods.
Jenna Marie Cooper holds a licentiate in canon law, is a consecrated virgin and a canonist whose column appears weekly at OSV News.