Pilgrims of Hope

The Capuchin friars celebrate the ancient tradition of the Jubilee Year 

By Tim Hinkle

"You shall treat this fiftieth year as sacred. You shall proclaim liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you." (Leviticus, 25:10)

Our ancient Hebrew forebears set aside every 50th year as a jubilee year. Slaves were released from servitude. Debts were forgiven. The jubilee was a way of hitting the “reset button,” of putting things right with God.

At the start of the 1300s, Europe had endured years of pandemic, war and strife. A weary people sought a holy year for forgiveness of sin and a celebration of God’s grace and mercy. So, Pope Boniface VIII brought back the ancient tradition of the jubilee, declaring 1300 to be the first jubilee of the Christian era. According to a backgrounder on the 2000 Jubilee, a “who’s who” of Europe made that first pilgrimage to Rome including Dante Alighieri, members of the French Valois dynasty, and artists Cimabue and Giotto.

Since then, jubilees have been celebrated at fixed intervals, eventually settling into a frequency of every 25 years. At times, the Church has declared an extraordinary, or special, jubilee outside of the normal cadence. The most recent being the 2016 Jubilee of Mercy declared by Pope Francis.

A jubilee year is formally declared through a papal bull. The Jubilee of Hope was declared by Pope Francis in the papal bull Hope does not disappoint (Romans 5:5). The Holy Year officially began on Christmas Eve 2024 with the opening of the holy door at St. Peter’s Basilica, and continuing through January 6, 2026.

A unique characteristic of this year’s jubilee is its focus on the local Church. As with any jubilee, the faithful will be welcomed in large numbers as pilgrims in Rome, where they can fulfill prescribed requirements and pass through the holy door at a papal basilica to receive a plenary indulgence. What’s special about this jubilee is that pilgrims can receive a plenary indulgence by visiting a designated pilgrimage site in their local diocese.

One of these pilgrimage sites in the Archdiocese of Detroit is the Solanus Casey Center, a ministry of the Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Joseph. At the Solanus Casey Center, friars hear confessions between 9:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays, Mass is celebrated at 7:30 a.m. seven days a week and St. Bonaventure Chapel is open Tuesdays through Sundays for personal prayer, making it possible to receive the Holy Year plenary indulgence without having to fly to Rome.

Br. Steve Kropp is the director of the Solanus Casey Center and is himself planning a pilgrimage to the Eternal City later this jubilee year. Br. Steve notes that the Jubilee of Hope opens doors for Catholics around the world to access and participate in the jubilee in ways that weren’t possible before. The Solanus Casey Center will be unveiling special programming throughout the year including a Lenten Series, with “Pilgrims of Hope” being the theme for the Holy Year. “One of the ways here in the Archdiocese is to visit one of the pilgrimage sites such as the Solanus Casey Center to pray the prayer, participate in the Sacrament of Penance, and to avail themselves of the opportunity for the indulgence for the year. I appreciate that the Holy Father has laid out other opportunities for people to make sure that it is as accessible as possible by doing some catechesis, which we're also going to offer, especially during Lent.”

In the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, covering the eastern two-thirds of Montana, the Most Rev. Jeffrey Fleming named St. Francis Xavier Church one of six churches in the local diocese where the plenary indulgence can be obtained. St. Francis Xavier Church is also run by the Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Joseph. The Church recently completed a major restoration project, highlighted on the back cover of the magazine.

Br. Igor De Bliquy, the director of the Office of Communications for the Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Joseph, made the pilgrimage to Rome for the Jubilee of the World of Communications in January earlier this year.

The Jubilee of the World of Communications brought together people who work in the field of Catholic communications from around the globe and included, clergy, religious and lay people working at chanceries, religious institutes, parishes and in Catholic media. “Everybody from someone working for the parish newspaper to the EWTN reporters, the Vatican News reporters are there, to somebody working in a diocese. There were social media influencers, and anyone under the sun dealing with communication was invited,” said Br. Igor. “And so, there was the idea that this is for anybody who is a messenger of the Good News. The focus was on how do you bring the Good News and what news are you communicating? How you're communicating, that was the focus of the Jubilee.” A major discussion topic was the use and ethics of artificial intelligence, with the Holy Father releasing his note on AI, Antiqua et Nova, during the Jubilee of the World of Communications.

With the many challenges facing the world and the Church today, let us all take time to pray and reflect and be pilgrims of hope. As St. Paul wrote: “Hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:5).

Jubilee Prayer 2025

Father in heaven, may the faith you have given us in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother, and the flame of charity enkindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit reawaken in us the blessed hope for the coming of your Kingdom.

May your grace transform us into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.

May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos in the sure expectation of a new heaven and a new earth, when, with the powers of Evil vanquished, your glory will shine eternally.

May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope, a yearning for the treasures of heaven.

May that same grace spread the joy and peace of our Redeemer throughout the earth.

To you our God, eternally blessed, be glory and praise for ever.

Amen