Jubilee 2025 Site

In a special decree issued on May 14, 2024, the Apostolic Penitentiary authorized diocesan bishops to designate churches within their dioceses as pilgrimage sites for the jubilee year, allowing the faithful — especially those unable to travel to Rome — to obtain the jubilee indulgence. In keeping with these instructions from the Holy See, St. Edward has been chosen as one of the sites.

Jubilee Indulgence

The indulgence, a priceless gift of divine mercy, is one of the special ‘signs’ of the Jubilee Year. On Monday 13 May the Apostolic Penitentiary published the Norms on the granting of Indulgences during the Jubilee of 2025. The indulgence, they state, (quoting Pope Francis in the Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee, Spes non confundit), is ‘a Jubilee grace’ which ‘allows us to discover how limitless God's mercy is.’ For the next Jubilee, at the express wish of the Holy Father, the Penitentiary intends to ‘nourish the pious desire to obtain the indulgence’ and for this reason it has established norms and guidelines for pilgrims.

All the ‘truly repentant’ faithful, ’moved by a spirit of charity, who, purified through the sacrament of penance and refreshed by Holy Communion, will be able to receive the indulgence, with the remission and forgiveness of sins’ say the Norms adding that they should also pray according to the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff. Following the provisions of the Penitentiary, signed by the Major Penitentiary, His Eminence, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, the indulgence can be applied ‘in the form of suffrage to the souls in Purgatory’.

The faithful, ‘pilgrims of hope’, will be able to obtain the Indulgence by undertaking a pilgrimage to any sacred Jubilee site, to at least one of the four Major Papal Basilicas of Rome, to the Holy Land or to other designated ecclesiastical sites, and taking part in a moment of prayer, a liturgical celebration or celebrating the sacrament of reconciliation. The indulgence can also be obtained by ‘devoutly visiting any Jubilee site’ and taking part in Eucharistic adoration or meditation, concluding with the Our Father, the Profession of Faith, and appropriate invocations to Mary.

Another way to obtain indulgence will be through ‘works of mercy and penance’, with which a person’s conversion is manifested. The faithful ‘following the example and mandate of Christ’, are encouraged to carry out works of charity or mercy more frequently, mainly in the service of those brothers and sisters who are burdened by various needs. Likewise, they may obtain the indulgence by visiting those ‘who are in need or difficulty (the sick, prisoners, the lonely elderly, the disabled...), ‘in a sense making a pilgrimage to Christ present in them.’

The ‘penitential spirit’, notes the Norms, is ‘the soul of the Jubilee’ and therefore the indulgence can also be obtained by ‘abstaining, in a spirit of penance, at least for one day of the week from futile distractions (real but also virtual distractions), from superfluous consumption as well as by donating a proportionate sum of money to the poor; by supporting works of a religious or social nature, especially in support of the defense and protection of life in all its phases.’