2025 will mark 60 years since the second Vatican Council, or Vatican II. Following a Year of Prayer in 2024, celebrations will now begin. The theme is Pilgrims of Hope.
An ordinary jubilee happens in the church every 25 years – the last one was in the year 2000. Jubilee years date back to the 1300s, and traditionally, it is a year that sees the remission of sins, debts and universal pardon.
Our Pastoral Development Department created a parish pack containing helpful resources and information for the Jubilee Year. You can find it in Word or PDF format.
Click here to read Archbishop Malcolm’s pastoral letter at the beginning of the Jubilee (link)
The following places of worship have been named as designated pilgrimage churches (where the faithful, on making a pilgrimage to these churches, can obtain a plenary indulgence) by Archbishop Malcolm.
Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King
St Mary of the Isle, Isle of Man
St Anne and Blessed Dominic, St Helens
St Oswald and St Edmund Arrowsmith, Aston and Makerfield
St Mary’s, Chorley
St Mary’s Shrine, Warrington
St Mary’s Public Oratory, Aughton
If you are visiting any of these churches during the Jubilee, please download our pilgrim passport to find out more about the churches and track your journey.
We Dare to Hope is a five-week Lenten resource on Christian Hope and includes a foreword by Bishop David Oakley. The resource, to use during the Jubilee Year, has been developed by the Bishops’ Conference.
You can find out more about the Jubilee icon here:
To mark the Jubilee Year 2025, Pilgrims of Hope, CAFOD commissioned a special Jubilee Icon from Ethiopian artist Mulugeta Araya. Ethiopia was chosen both for its deep heritage of sacred iconography and as a reminder that the Jubilee is a global celebration, uniting the Church worldwide.
The icon is inspired by Jesus’ proclamation in Luke 4:16–21, where he reads from the scroll of Isaiah and announces “the year of the Lord’s favour.” This passage speaks of healing, liberation and good news for the poor—central themes of the Jubilee. Araya’s icon invites prayer and reflection by visually interpreting this moment, reminding us of Pope Francis’ call for Christians to be tangible signs of hope to all who face hardship, poverty or oppression.
The icon is inspired by Jesus’ proclamation in Luke 4:16–21, where he reads from the scroll of Isaiah and announces “the year of the Lord’s favour.” This passage speaks of healing, liberation and good news for the poor—central themes of the Jubilee. Araya’s icon invites prayer and reflection by visually interpreting this moment, reminding us of Pope Francis’ call for Christians to be tangible signs of hope to all who face hardship, poverty or oppression.
The icon is rich with symbolism which deepens its message:
1. A diverse crowd of men, women and children—young and old—gathers to listen to Jesus. Their attentive gaze reflects the openness of all people to the Word of God.
2. Jesus looks outward, his gaze extending beyond the scene to the whole world. His teaching is timeless and universal.
3. A person using a stick stands in the foreground, symbolising Jesus’ care for those who are often overlooked: the elderly, vulnerable, or those living with disabilities.
4. The golden halo signifies Christ’s divinity. In place of gold leaf—unavailable due to local instability—Araya used paint, a reminder of the resilience and hope at the heart of the Jubilee message.
5. Jesus’ raised right hand shows him actively teaching and proclaiming the Good News.
6. A leather Bible bag, traditional in Ethiopia, highlights reverence for Scripture.
7. The words of Isaiah are written in Ge’ez, the ancient Ethiopian liturgical language.
8. A rainbow arcs across the scene, symbolising God’s covenant and the hope of liberation that bridges Old and New Testaments.
9. A brick wall hints at the separation between synagogue and world—yet in this icon Jesus stands in an open space, inviting all people to encounter the Good News on equal terms.
As part of its journey around the dioceses of England and Wales, the Jubilee Icon visited the Archdiocese of Liverpool from Tuesday 28 October to Wednesday 10 November. During its stay, parishes and communities gathered in prayer and reflection, welcoming the Icon as a sign of hope and unity ahead of the Jubilee Year.
The Jubilee Companion Booklet 2025 is published in a collaboration with the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. The booklet helps pilgrims ponder and pray, focusing on the great themes of the Holy Year.
The Pilgrim Ways website outlines pilgrimages you can make in the Archdiocese of Liverpool and other diocese across England and Wales.You may have heard that they are organising a national walking pilgrimage for the Jubilee Year – there are four walking routes which are designed to look like the sign of cross so pilgrims will be blessing the nation.All are welcome to take part, more information can be found below.
Throughout the Jubilee year, there are events happening in Rome.
Tradition dictates that each Jubilee is proclaimed through the publication of a Papal (or Pontifical) ‘Bull of Indiction’. By ‘Bull’ is meant an official document, generally written in Latin, bearing the seal of the Pope, the shape of which gives its name to the document itself.
In the past the seal was usually made of lead and bore, on the front, the image of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, founders of the Church of Rome, and, on the back, the name of the current Pontiff. Later an ink stamp replaced the metal seal, which, however, continued to be used for more important documents.
This year’s Jubilee logo is rich with imagery that can help you to understand the meaning of the
Jubilee.
Father Simon Gore explains: “The logo shows a group of people travelling together, reminding young people that they’re never alone on their journey of faith and will always have support in their faith communities.
There's also the symbol of the wave, a reminder of the potential difficulties of being a follower of Christ in the modern age. But most importantly, there's the anchor – the anchor of hope – to show that no matter the difficulty, we can always find hope and comfort in our faith.”
