Jubilee 2025 is now properly underway, and local pilgrims hungry to know more about how to participate can find everything they need on a new ‘2025 Jubilee—Pilgrims of Hope’ webpage on the Melbourne Catholic website.
Pope Francis proclaimed the Jubilee Year with the words of St Paul in his Letter to the Romans, Spes Non Confundit—‘Hope does not disappoint’. In the papal bull issued ahead of the Holy Year, he reminded us that hope lives in each of us, declaring that the Jubilee, however it’s celebrated, is an opportunity to renew this hope.
There is no shortage of Pilgrim Places in our Archdiocese to make our own local journeys of reconciliation and renewal.
The Holy Year is celebrated across the world. See our ‘mother church’ St Patrick’s Cathedral with new eyes; visit relics associated with Australia’s first saint, Mary McKillop, at St Mary McKillop Church in Keilor Downs; worship with multicultural congregations at St Luke’s in Lalor; reflect on the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Our Lady of La Vang Shrine in Keysborough. To plan their pilgrimages, pilgrims can visit the websites of each Pilgrim Place to find out more about what is happening, and when.
Jubilee plenary indulgences are another feature of the local Jubilee celebrations, and the new webpage clearly outlines how pilgrims can obtain them for themselves and for their loved ones who have died. As part of the Jubilee Year, pilgrims may receive up to two plenary indulgences a day.
Pilgrims can get a special passport stamped at each location for a wonderful memento of their pilgrimage experience this Jubilee Year and a source of reflection for the future.
May this Jubilee Year of Hope be a time of reconciliation and renewal for all!