Pope Francis has announced the start of a Year of Prayer in preparation for the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year. Source: CNA.
In his Angelus address yesterday, the Pope said that a Year of Prayer starting yesterday will be “a year dedicated to rediscovering the great value and absolute need for prayer in one’s personal life, in the life of the Church, and in the world”.
“Dear brothers and sisters, the coming months will lead us to the opening of the Holy Door, with which we will begin the jubilee,” Pope Francis said from the window of the Apostolic Palace.
“I ask you to intensify your prayer to prepare us to live this event of grace well and to experience the power of God’s hope. That is why today we begin a Year of Prayer.”
The Pope said that the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelisation will publish resources to help Catholic communities to more fully participate in the Year of Prayer. The Holy See Press Office has also announced that a press conference on the Year of Prayer will take place on Tuesday.
The Vatican and the city of Rome are expecting an estimated 35 million people to flock to the Eternal City for the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope — the first ordinary jubilee since the Great Jubilee of 2000.
A jubilee is a special holy year of grace and pilgrimage in the Catholic Church. It typically takes place once every 25 years, though the Pope can call for extraordinary jubilee years more often, such as in the case of the 2016 Year of Mercy or the 2013 Year of Faith.
The 2025 Jubilee Year begins on December 24 (Christmas Eve) and concludes on January 6, 2026.
FULL STORY
Pope Francis announces Year of Prayer to prepare for 2025 Jubilee (Courtney Mares, CNA)
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Pope announces Year of Prayer leading up to Jubilee (Vatican News)
