Two days after opening the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica to inaugurate the Holy Year 2025, Pope Francis will travel to a Rome prison to open a Holy Door as a “tangible sign of the message of hope” for people in prisons around the world, the Vatican announced.
Pope Francis asked Catholics to get ready for the jubilee journey with a Year of Prayer and now, a few months after the year was officially announced, a kind of prayer prep-school is in session.
After the January 21 Mass, Pope Francis officially opened the Year of Prayer for the church’s celebration of Sunday of the Word of God. It will be a year dedicated to rediscovering the great value and absolute need for prayer in personal life.
The Vatican hopes to show the pilgrims who come to Rome for the jubilee that the spirit of forgiveness remains front and center of the church’s long tradition of celebrating Holy Years.
2024 will be a very special year for the Poor Clares as they will celebrate their Centennial Jubilee. They hope that you will join them in celebrating God’s goodness to them.
The Holy Year 2025 should focus on “restoring a climate of hope and trust” after the coronavirus pandemic and helping people repair their relationships with God, with each other and with the Earth, Pope Francis said.
A holy year or jubilee is a time of pilgrimage, prayer, repentance and acts of mercy.
Following Christ the King, whose regal power is love and mercy, means the whole church and each Christian must “follow his way of tangible love,” Pope Francis said.
