Australian Missionaries of God’s Love Sister Therese Mills has spoken of her great joy in joining tens of thousands of pilgrims in Rome for the Jubilee of Ecclesial Movements, Associations, and New Communities. Source: CNA.
Sr Therese said her pilgrimage to Rome during the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope has been a time of refreshment and renewal.
She described the “amazing” experience of walking through the Jubilee Door of St Peter’s Basilica on Saturday, the first day of the special jubilee dedicated to new Catholic movements and associations.
She recalled “just opening my hands and just praying that the Lord would refresh and renew my heart and refresh and renew my faith”.
“The thing that blew me away — and what I loved the most — was we were all on this journey together but everyone was speaking and praying in different languages,” she said.
Sr Therese called her visit to the Blessed Sacrament chapel inside the papal basilica a “God moment” that she will not forget.
“I just sat before Jesus and bawled my eyes out to be honest,” she said with a laugh. “I was very overwhelmed with his love … the gift of being with him in this place, and with the universal Church.”
The approximately 70,000 pilgrims participating in the weekend jubilee had the opportunity to explore different churches in Rome and attend music and entertainment events organised by various ecclesial groups.
A few of the hundreds of new Catholic associations taking part in the June jubilee include the Neocatechumenal Way, Catholic Action, Communion and Liberation, the Catholic Shalom Community, the Community of Sant’Egidio, the Focolare Movement, and CHARIS International.
During his homily at the Vigil Mass, Pope Leo described the new and diverse Church communities gathered around him as “the fruits of the Second Vatican Council” who are “grounded in the one Lord Jesus Christ” entrusted with “a single mission”.
In the days leading up to the official Jubilee festivities, Sr Therese undertook a pilgrimage to holy sites in Rome linked to patron saints of her Australian-based community, including St Francis of Assisi, St Ignatius of Loyola, St Therese of Lisieux, and St Catherine of Siena.
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Australian sister reflects on graces of jubilee pilgrimage (By Kristina Millare, CNA)
