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As we approach the end of the Jubilee Year 2025 of Pilgrims of Hope, parishes across the Archdiocese of Liverpool are preparing to mark this important spiritual moment with prayer, thanksgiving and community celebration.
The Jubilee will close locally in parishes on Sunday 28 December 2025, the Feast of the Holy Family, and will be formally closed in Rome on Monday 6 January 2026, the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord.
Throughout the year, the Holy Father invited us to rediscover hope - in Christ, in our communities, and in the Church’s mission to the world.
Jubilee Churches in the archdiocese
Although the Jubilee is a worldwide celebration, Pope Francis asked each diocese to mark it in its own way. As part of this, at the end of 2024, Archbishop Malcolm McMahon designated a number of Jubilee Churches across the Archdiocese of Liverpool.
These churches became special places of pilgrimage, where the people were encouraged to visit, pray, and receive a plenary indulgence.
The designated Jubilee Churches were:
In addition, prison chapels were included among the designated Jubilee spaces, ensuring that everyone, including those in custody, had the opportunity to take part in this Year of Grace.
Many pilgrims also used the specially produced Pilgrim’s Passport, which encouraged visits to each Jubilee Church and provided space for reflections and prayer.
The Metropolitan Cathedral: a year filled with Jubilee moments
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, as the mother church of the archdiocese, has been at the heart of many of the major Jubilee celebrations. Throughout the year it has welcomed pilgrims, families and communities for significant liturgical and devotional events, including:
These key moments have helped thousands to engage with the Jubilee theme of Pilgrims of Hope through prayer, community, and deepening devotion.
The Cathedral will be hosting a Solemn Mass to mark the Closing of the Jubilee Year on the 28 December at 11am. All are welcome.
St Oswald and St Edmund Arrowsmith, Ashton-in-Makerfield: Pilgrimage and Saints
St Oswald and St Edmund Arrowsmith’s Church also embraced the spirit of pilgrimage throughout the Jubilee.
On Sunday 24 August, the parish hosted a pilgrimage walk, which both began and ended at the church — a place of deep historic and spiritual significance as the home of the Holy Hand of St Edmund Arrowsmith, one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
At the same time, the church was also displaying Saint Carlo Acutis’ Eucharistic Miracles Exhibition, which drew many visitors and offered a powerful testimony to the importance of the Eucharist in the life of the Church.
Together, these elements created an experience of past and present: the courage of a martyr and the youthful witness of the now-Saint Carlo, inspiring pilgrims in their own journey of faith.
St Mary’s, Chorley: a year of grace and growth
St Mary’s Church in Chorley has experienced a deeply fruitful Jubilee Year.
On 8 December, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the parish will welcome juniors from their primary school for a special Mass celebrating the Jubilee and giving thanks for its blessings.
As part of the liturgy, the children will lead six bidding prayers, offering “Thanksgiving for all the graces we have received during the Jubilee Year and asking for the blessings and protection of Our Blessed Lady The Immaculate Conception, our Patron, for our church, priest, parishioners, school, children and families and the teachers.”
The parish has shared how this Jubilee Year has brought many spiritual fruits:
These moments reflect the deeper impact of the Jubilee — not just in events, but in renewed faith and conversion.
St Anne and Blessed Dominic, St Helens: welcome, adoration and community
When the church was chosen as a Jubilee Church, parish priest Fr Jean Paul Illunga formed a welcoming group called the “Friends of the Shrine of Blessed Dominic”. This group of parishioners volunteered their time to greet pilgrims and guide them during their visits.
He commented “it has been a great success, and I am grateful to them and thank God for their presence.”
For the closing of the Jubilee, St Anne and Blessed Dominic has planned the following:
St Mary’s Public Oratory, Aughton: Pilgrims and the Jubilee Icon
St Mary’s Public Oratory, Aughton, also took part in the national journey of the Jubilee Icon. On 3 November, the parish hosted the Icon for a dedicated evening of prayer at 7.00pm, allowing parishioners and pilgrims to spend time before it in reflection and hope.
In addition, St Mary’s held a pilgrim walk as part of its Jubilee observance, giving parishioners and visitors an opportunity to physically express the pilgrim spirit of the year and to deepen their connection to the wider celebration across the diocese and indeed the whole Catholic Church.
The lasting fruits of the Jubilee
Across the archdiocese, the Jubilee has been marked by:
The Jubilee Year may be drawing to a close, but its mission continues. We are called to carry forward its message — to remain Pilgrims of Hope in our families, parishes, schools and neighbourhoods.
Looking ahead
As we move beyond the Jubilee Year, parishes and individuals are encouraged to continue living its values by deepening prayer, strengthening community life, and engaging actively with the mission of the Church.
This includes linking the fruits of the Jubilee with ongoing diocesan priorities such as:
The Jubilee may formally end, but its invitation remains: to walk together as Pilgrims of Hope, rooted in Christ and sent out to the world.
The archdiocese are gathering items for a time capsule of the Jubilee, to be opened at the next Jubilee Year. If you’d like to send something in, please email us at communications@rcaol.org.uk.
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