Below is the full text of the bull Spes non confundit, (Hope does not disappoint), the bull published on the afternoon of this Thursday, May 9, by Pope Francis with which he officially calls the Jubilee of 2025.
1. ” Spes non confundit “, “hope does not disappoint” ( Rom 5,5). Under the sign of hope the apostle Paul gave encouragement to the Christian community of Rome. Hope also constitutes the central message of the next Jubilee, which according to an ancient tradition the Pope convenes every twenty-five years. I think of all the pilgrims of hope who will come to Rome to experience the Holy Year and of those who, unable to come to the city of the apostles Peter and Paul, will celebrate it in the particular Churches. May it be for everyone a moment of living and personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, the “door” of salvation (cf. Jn 10:7.9); with Him, whom the Church has the mission to announce always, everywhere and to everyone as “our hope” ( 1 Tim 1,1).
Everyone waits. In the heart of every person there is hope as a desire and expectation of good, even ignoring what tomorrow will bring. However, the unpredictability of the future gives rise to often conflicting feelings: from confidence to fear, from serenity to discouragement, from certainty to doubt. We often find discouraged people, who look at the future with skepticism and pessimism, as if nothing could offer them happiness. May the Jubilee be an opportunity for everyone to rekindle hope. God’s Word helps us find his reasons. Let us be guided by what the apostle Paul wrote precisely to the Christians of Rome.
2. “So being justified by faith, we are at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained, through faith, the grace in which we are established, and through him we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. […] And hope will not be disappointed, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” ( Rom 5:1-2.5). The points of reflection that Saint Paul proposes here are multiple. We know that the Letter to the Romans marks a decisive step in his evangelization activity. Until that moment he had carried it out in the eastern area of the Empire and now Rome awaits him, with all that it represents in the eyes of the world: a great challenge, which must be faced in the name of the announcement of the Gospel, which knows no barriers or confines. The Church of Rome had not been founded by Paul, but he felt a strong desire to arrive there soon to bring to everyone the Gospel of Jesus Christ, dead and risen, as an announcement of the hope that fulfills the promises, leads to glory and, Based on love, it does not disappoint.
3. Hope is indeed born from love and is founded on the love that flows from the Heart of Jesus pierced on the cross: “For if, being enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more now that we are reconciled, we will be saved by his life” ( Rom 5:10). And his life is manifested in our life of faith, which begins with Baptism; It develops in docility to the grace of God and, therefore, is animated by hope, which is always renewed and made unbreakable by the action of the Holy Spirit.
Indeed, the Holy Spirit, with his perennial presence in the path of the Church, is the one who radiates the light of hope to believers. He keeps it burning like a flame that never goes out, to give support and vigor to our lives. Christian hope, in fact, does not deceive or disappoint, because it is founded on the certainty that nothing and no one can ever separate us from divine love: “Who then can separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulations, anguish, persecution , hunger, nakedness, dangers, the sword? […] But in all this we obtain a vast victory, thanks to him who loved us.
For I am certain that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor spiritual powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature will ever be able to separate us from the love of God. , manifested in Christ Jesus, our Lord” ( Rom 8,35.37-39). This is why this hope does not give in to difficulties: because it is based on faith and is nourished by charity, and in this way it makes it possible for us to continue later in life. Saint Augustine writes about it: “No one, in fact, lives in any kind of life without these three dispositions of the soul: those of believing, hoping, loving.”
4. Saint Paul is very realistic. He knows that life is made of joys and pains, that love is tested when difficulties increase and hope seems to collapse in the face of suffering. Still, he writes: “Moreover, we glory even in tribulations themselves, because we know that tribulation produces perseverance; perseverance, proven virtue; proven virtue, hope” ( Rom 5:3-4). For the Apostle, tribulation and suffering are the conditions typical of those who announce the Gospel in contexts of misunderstanding and persecution (cf. 2 Cor 6:3-10). But in such situations, in the midst of darkness a light is perceived; It is discovered how what sustains evangelization is the force that springs from the cross and the resurrection of Christ.
And that leads to developing a virtue closely related to hope: patience . We are used to wanting everything and immediately, in a world where haste has become a constant. There is no longer time to meet, and often even in families it becomes difficult to meet and talk calmly. Patience has been relegated by haste, causing serious harm to people. In fact, intolerance, nervousness and sometimes gratuitous violence take their place, causing dissatisfaction and closure.
Likewise, in the age of the internet, where space and time are supplanted by the “here and now”, patience seems strange. If we were still able to contemplate creation with wonder, we would understand how essential patience is. Wait for the alternation of the seasons with their fruits; observe the life of animals and the cycles of their development; to have the simple eyes of Saint Francis who, in his Canticle of the Creatures, written 800 years ago, saw creation as a great family and called the sun “brother” and the moon “sister.” Rediscovering patience does a lot of good for oneself and others. Saint Paul frequently uses patience to emphasize the importance of perseverance and trust in what God has promised us, but above all he testifies that God is patient with us, because he is “the God of perseverance and consolation” ( Rom 15:5). Patience, which is also a fruit of the Holy Spirit, keeps hope alive and consolidates it as a virtue and lifestyle. Therefore, let us learn to frequently ask for the grace of patience, which is the daughter of hope and at the same time sustains it.
5. This interweaving of hope and patience clearly shows how the Christian life is a path , which also needs strong moments to feed and strengthen hope, an irreplaceable companion that allows us to glimpse the goal: the encounter with the Lord Jesus. I like to think that it was precisely an itinerary of grace, animated by popular spirituality, that preceded the convocation of the first Jubilee in the year 1300. In fact, we cannot forget the different ways through which the grace of forgiveness has been poured out abundantly on the holy faithful People of God.
Let us remember, for example, the great “forgiveness” that Saint Celestine V wanted to grant to those who went to the Basilica of Saint Mary of Collemaggio, in L’Aquila, during August 28 and 29, 1294, six years before the Pope Boniface VIII instituted the Holy Year. Thus, the Church was already experiencing the jubilee grace of mercy. And even earlier, in the year 1216, Pope Honorius III had accepted the plea of Saint Francis asking for indulgence for those who were going to visit the Porziuncola during the first two days of August. The same can be said for the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela; In fact, Pope Calixtus II, in 1122, granted that the Jubilee be celebrated in that Sanctuary every time the feast of the Apostle James coincided with Sunday. It is good that this “extended” modality of jubilee celebrations continues, so that the force of God’s forgiveness sustains and accompanies the path of communities and individuals.
It is no coincidence that the pilgrimage expresses a fundamental element of every jubilee event. Setting out is a typical gesture of those seeking the meaning of life. The pilgrimage on foot greatly favors the rediscovery of the value of silence, of effort, of what is essential. Also next year, the pilgrims of hope will travel ancient and modern paths to live the jubilee experience intensely. Furthermore, in the city of Rome itself there will be other faith itineraries that will be added to the already traditional ones of the catacombs and the seven churches. Transiting from one country to another, as if borders were overcome, moving from one city to another in the contemplation of creation and works of art will allow us to treasure different experiences and cultures, to preserve within ourselves the beauty that, harmonized Through prayer, it leads to thanking God for the wonders that He performs. The jubilee churches, along the itineraries and in the City itself, can be oases of spirituality in which to revitalize the path of faith and drink from the springs of hope, especially approaching the sacrament of Reconciliation, a point of irreplaceable starting point for a true path of conversion. That in particular Churches special care be taken in the preparation of priests and faithful for confessions and access to the sacrament in their individual form.
To the faithful of the Eastern Churches, especially those who are already in full communion with the Successor of Peter, I would like to address a particular invitation to this pilgrimage. They, who have suffered so much for their fidelity to Christ and the Church, often to the point of death, should feel especially welcome to this Rome that is also Mother to them and that guards so many memories of her presence. The Catholic Church, which is enriched by its ancient liturgies, by the theology and spirituality of the Fathers, monks and theologians, wants to symbolically express the welcome to them and their Orthodox brothers and sisters, in a time in which they are already living the pilgrimage of the Via Crucis; with which they are frequently forced to leave their lands of origin, their holy lands, from which violence and instability expel them towards safer countries. For them, the experience of being loved by the Church—which will not abandon them, but will follow them wherever they go—makes the sign of the Jubilee even stronger.
6. The Holy Year 2025 is in continuity with the preceding events of grace. In the last ordinary Jubilee the threshold of two thousand years since the birth of Jesus Christ was crossed. Then, on March 13, 2015, I called an extraordinary Jubilee with the purpose of manifesting and facilitating the encounter with the “Face of mercy” of God[3], the central announcement of the Gospel for all people of all times. Now the time has come for a new Jubilee, to open wide the Holy Door once again and offer the living experience of the love of God, which raises in the heart the certain hope of salvation in Christ. At the same time, this Holy Year will guide the path towards another fundamental anniversary for all Christians: in 2033 the two thousand years of the Redemption carried out through the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus will be celebrated. We thus find ourselves facing an itinerary marked by great stages, in which the grace of God precedes and accompanies the people who walk enthusiastically in faith, diligent in charity and persevering in hope (cf. 1 Thes 1 :3).
Supported by this long tradition and with the certainty that this Jubilee Year will be for the entire Church an intense experience of grace and hope, I order that the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, in the Vatican, be opened from the 24th of December of the current year 2024, thus beginning the ordinary Jubilee. Next Sunday, December 29, 2024, I will open the Holy Door of the Cathedral of Saint John Lateran, which on November 9 of this year will celebrate the 1700th anniversary of its dedication. Next, on January 1, 2025, the Solemnity of Saint Mary, Mother of God, the Holy Door of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major will be opened. And finally, on Sunday, January 5, the Holy Door of the Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls will open. These last three Holy Doors will be closed on Sunday, December 28 of the same year.
I further establish that on Sunday, December 29, 2024, in all cathedrals and co-cathedrals, the diocesan bishops will celebrate the Eucharist as the solemn opening of the Jubilee Year, according to the Ritual that will be prepared for the occasion. In the case of the celebration in a co-cathedral church, the bishop may be replaced by a delegate expressly designated for this purpose. May the pilgrimage from a church chosen for the collectio , towards the cathedral, be the sign of the path of hope that, illuminated by the Word of God, unites believers. Let some passages of this Document be read and the Jubilee indulgence announced to the people, which may be obtained according to the prescriptions contained in the same Ritual for the celebration of the Jubilee in the particular Churches. During the Holy Year, which in the particular Churches will end on Sunday, December 28, 2025, efforts must be made that the People of God welcome, with full participation, both the announcement of hope of God’s grace and the signs that attest to its effectiveness.
The ordinary Jubilee will close with the closing of the Holy Door of the Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican on January 6, 2026, the Epiphany of the Lord. May the light of Christian hope reach all people, as a message of God’s love that is addressed to everyone. And may the Church be a faithful witness of this announcement in all parts of the world.
7. In addition to achieving the hope that God’s grace gives us, we are also called to rediscover it in the signs of the times that the Lord offers us. As the Second Vatican Council states, “it is the permanent duty of the Church to thoroughly scrutinize the signs of the times and interpret them in the light of the Gospel, so that, adapting to each generation, the Church can respond to the perennial questions of humanity.” about the meaning of the present life and the future life and about the mutual relationship of both”.[4] Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to all the good that there is in the world so as not to fall into the temptation of considering ourselves overcome by evil and violence. In this sense, the signs of the times, which contain the longing of the human heart, in need of the saving presence of God, need to be transformed into signs of hope.
8. May the first sign of hope translate into peace for the world, which once again finds itself immersed in the tragedy of war . Humanity, forgetful of the dramas of the past, is subjected to a new and difficult test when it sees many populations oppressed by the brutality of violence. What else is left for these people that they have not already suffered? How is it possible that their desperate cry for help does not drive those responsible for the Nations to want to put an end to the numerous regional conflicts, aware of the consequences that may arise at a global level? Is it too much to dream that weapons will fall silent and stop causing destruction and death? Let the Jubilee remind us that those who “work for peace” can be “called children of God” ( Mt 5:9). The demand for peace challenges us all and it is urgent that concrete projects be carried out. May there be no lack of diplomacy’s commitment to bravely and creatively build negotiation spaces aimed at lasting peace.
9. Looking at the future with hope is also equivalent to having a vision of life full of enthusiasm to share with others. However, we must sadly note that in many situations this perspective is lacking. The first consequence of this is the loss of the desire to transmit life . Due to the frenetic rhythms of life, fears about the future, the lack of job guarantees and adequate social protections, social models whose agenda is dictated by the search for profits rather than by the care of relationships, There is a worrying decline in birth rates in several countries . On the contrary, in other contexts, “blaming the increase in population and not the extreme and selective consumerism of some is a way of not facing the problems.”
Openness to life with responsible motherhood and fatherhood is the project that the Creator has inscribed in the hearts and bodies of men and women, a mission that the Lord entrusts to husbands and their love. It is urgent that, in addition to the legislative commitment of the states, there is convinced support on the part of the believing communities and the civil community both as a whole and in each of its members, because the desire of young people to generate new children and daughters, as a fruit of the fruitfulness of their love, gives a future perspective to every society and is a reason for hope: because it depends on hope and produces hope.
The Christian community, therefore, cannot be left behind in its support for the need for a social alliance for hope, which is inclusive and non-ideological, and which works for a future that is characterized by the smiles of many boys and girls. that will come to fill the many empty cribs that already exist in many parts of the world. But all of us, in reality, need to recover the joy of living, because the human being, created in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gen 1:26), cannot be content with surviving or subsisting mediocrely, adapting to the present moment and allowing himself to be satisfied. only for material realities. This locks us into individualism and corrodes hope, generating a sadness that nestles in the heart, making us unpleasant and intolerant.
10. In the Jubilee Year we are called to be tangible signs of hope for so many brothers and sisters who live in conditions of hardship. I think of the prisoners who, deprived of their liberty, experience every day—in addition to the harshness of confinement—the emotional emptiness, the imposed restrictions and, in many cases, the lack of respect. I propose to the governments of the world that in the Year of the Jubilee they take on initiatives that restore hope; forms of amnesty or remission of punishment aimed at helping people to regain confidence in themselves and in society; itineraries of reintegration into the community to which a specific commitment to the observance of the laws corresponds.
It is an ancient exhortation, which arises from the Word of God and remains with all its wisdom value when it is called to have acts of clemency and liberation that allow us to begin again: “Thus they will sanctify the fiftieth year, and proclaim a liberation for all inhabitants of the country” ( Lev 25,10). The prophet Isaiah takes up what was established by the Mosaic Law: the Lord “sent me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up wounded hearts, to proclaim liberation to the captives and freedom to the prisoners, to proclaim a year of grace of the Lord” ( Is 61,1-2). These are the words that Jesus made his own at the beginning of his ministry, declaring that he himself was the fulfillment of the “year of the Lord’s favor” (cf. Luke 4:18-19). May believers in every corner of the earth, especially pastors, become interpreters of such requests, forming a single voice that courageously demands decent conditions for prisoners, respect for human rights and, above all, the abolition of the death penalty. death, a resource that for the Christian faith is inadmissible and annihilates all hope of forgiveness and renewal. To offer prisoners a concrete sign of closeness, I myself wish to open a Holy Door in a prison, so that it may be for them a symbol that invites them to look to the future with hope and a renewed commitment to life.
11. That signs of hope be offered to the sick who are at home or in hospitals. May their sufferings be alleviated with the closeness of the people who visit them and the affection they receive. Works of mercy are also works of hope, which awaken feelings of gratitude in hearts. May this gratitude also reach all health workers who, in often difficult conditions, carry out their mission with solicitous care for the sick and most fragile people.
That there is no lack of inclusive attention to those who find themselves in particularly difficult living conditions and experience their own weakness, especially those affected by pathologies or disabilities that significantly limit personal autonomy. Taking care of them is a hymn to human dignity, a song of hope that requires concerted actions by the entire society.
12. Signs of hope are also needed by those who themselves represent it: young people . They, unfortunately, often see their dreams come crashing down. We cannot disappoint them; The future is based on your enthusiasm. It is beautiful to see them release energy, for example when they give themselves with determination and voluntarily commit themselves in situations of catastrophe or social instability. However, it is sad to see young people without hope. On the other hand, when the future becomes uncertain and impervious to dreams; When studies do not offer opportunities and the lack of work or a sufficiently stable occupation threatens to destroy desires, then it is inevitable that the present is lived in melancholy and boredom. The illusion of drugs, the risk of falling into crime and the search for the ephemeral create in them, more than in others, confusion and obscure the beauty and meaning of life, bringing them down into dark abysses and inducing them to commit self-destructive gestures. Therefore, let the Jubilee be an occasion in the Church to stimulate them. Let us take care of the young people, the students, the couples, the new generations with renewed ardor. May there be closeness to young people, who are the joy and hope of the Church and the world!
13. There can be no lack of signs of hope for migrants , who leave their land in search of a better life for themselves and their families. May your hopes not be frustrated by prejudices and closures; that welcome, which opens its arms to each person based on their dignity, is accompanied by responsibility so that no one is denied the right to build a better future. That the numerous exiles, displaced people and refugees, who are forced by conflictive international events to flee to avoid wars, violence and discrimination, be guaranteed security, access to work and education, necessary instruments for their insertion in the new context. social.
May the Christian community always be ready to defend the rights of the weakest. May it generously open wide its welcoming doors, so that no one will ever lack hope for a better life. May the Word of the Lord resound in our hearts who, in the parable of the final judgment, said: “I was passing through, and they took me in,” because “every time they did it to the least of my brothers, they did it to me” ( Mt 25,35.40).
14. Signs of hope deserve the elderly, who often experience loneliness and feelings of abandonment. Valuing the treasure they are, their life experiences, the wisdom they have and the contribution they are capable of offering, is a commitment for the Christian community and civil society, called to work together for the alliance between generations.
I direct a particular memory to the grandfathers and grandmothers, who represent the transmission of faith and the wisdom of life to the younger generations. May they be sustained by the gratitude of their children and the love of their grandchildren, who find in them roots, understanding and encouragement.
15. I urgently implore hope for the thousands of poor people, who often lack what is necessary to live. Faced with the succession of ever-new waves of poverty, there is a risk of becoming accustomed and resigned. But we cannot look away from such dramatic situations, which today are seen everywhere and not only in certain areas of the world. Every day we meet poor or impoverished people who can sometimes be our neighbors. They often do not have housing or enough food for each day. They suffer the exclusion and indifference of many. It is scandalous that, in a world endowed with enormous resources, largely destined for armaments, the poor are “the majority […], billions of people. Today they are present in international political and economic debates, but frequently It seems that their problems are presented as an appendix, as an issue that is added almost out of obligation or peripherally, if they are not considered mere collateral damage. In fact, when it comes to concrete action, they frequently remain in the background. the last place.” [7] Let us not forget: the poor, almost always, are victims, not guilty.
16. Echoing the ancient word of the prophets, the Jubilee reminds us that the goods of the earth are not intended for a privileged few, but for all. It is necessary that those who possess wealth be generous, recognizing the face of their brothers who are in need. I think in a particular way of those who lack water and food. Hunger is a scandalous scourge on the body of our humanity and invites us all to feel remorse of conscience. I renew the call so that “with the money that is used on weapons and other military expenses, we constitute a global Fund, to end hunger once and for the development of the poorest countries, in such a way that their inhabitants “Do not resort to violent or deceptive solutions or need to leave your countries to seek a more dignified life.”
There is another compelling invitation that I wish to address in view of the Jubilee Year; It is addressed to the richest nations, so that they recognize the seriousness of so many decisions made and determine to forgive the debts of the countries that will never be able to pay them off. Rather than being about magnanimity, it is a question of justice, aggravated today by a new form of inequity of which we have become aware: “Because there is a true “ecological debt”, particularly between the North and the South, related to trade imbalances with consequences in the ecological sphere, as well as with the disproportionate use of natural resources carried out historically by some countries”. As Holy Scripture teaches, the earth belongs to God and all of us inhabit it as “strangers and guests” ( Lev 25 ,2. 3). If we truly want to pave the way for peace in the world, let us strive to remedy the causes that give rise to injustice, cancel unjust and unpaid debts, and satisfy the hungry.
17. During the next Jubilee a very significant anniversary will be commemorated for all Christians. In fact, it will be 1700 years since the celebration of the first great Ecumenical Council of Nicaea . It is worth remembering that, since apostolic times, pastors have met in assemblies on various occasions in order to discuss doctrinal themes and disciplinary issues. In the first centuries of the faith, synods multiplied in both the Christian East and West, showing how important it was to safeguard the unity of the People of God and the faithful proclamation of the Gospel. The Jubilee Year could be a significant opportunity to give concrete expression to this synodal form, which the Christian community sees today as an increasingly necessary expression to better correspond to the urgency of evangelization: that all the baptized, each with their own charisma and ministry, be co-responsible, so that through the multiplicity of signs of hope they testify to the presence of God in the world.
The Council of Nicaea had the task of preserving unity, seriously threatened by the denial of the full divinity of Jesus Christ and his very nature with the Father. Around three hundred bishops were present, who met in the imperial palace on May 20, 325, summoned at the initiative of Emperor Constantine. After various debates, all of them, moved by the grace of the Spirit, identified themselves in the Symbol of faith that we still profess today in the Sunday Eucharistic Celebration. The council fathers wanted to begin that Symbol by using for the first time the expression “We believe”[10], as a testimony that in that “we” all the Churches recognized themselves in communion, and all Christians professed the same faith.
The Council of Nicaea marked a milestone in the history of the Church. The commemoration of that date invites Christians to join in praise and gratitude to the Holy Trinity and in particular to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, “of the same nature as the Father”[11], who has revealed such a mystery to us. of love. But Nicaea also represents an invitation to all Churches and ecclesial communities to continue advancing on the path towards visible unity, to not tire of searching for adequate ways to fully correspond to Jesus’ prayer: “May they all be one: like you, Father , you are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me” ( Jn 17:21).
At the Council of Nicea the issue of the date of Easter was also discussed. In this regard, there are still different positions today, which prevent celebrating the fundamental event of faith on the same day. By a providential circumstance, this will take place precisely in the Year 2025. May this event be a call for all Christians of the East and the West to take a decisive step towards unity around a common date for Easter. Many, it is good to remember, are no longer aware of the disputes of the past and do not understand how divisions in this regard can persist.
18. Hope, together with faith and charity, form the triptych of “theological virtues”, which express the essence of the Christian life (cf. 1 Cor 13:13; 1 Thes 1:3). In its inseparable dynamism, hope is what, so to speak, indicates the orientation, indicates the direction and purpose of Christian existence. That is why the apostle Paul invites us to “rejoice in hope, to be patient in tribulation and persevering in prayer” (cf. Rom 12:12). Yes, we need “hope to abound” (cf. Rom 15:13) to witness in a credible and attractive way to the faith and love that we carry in our hearts; so that faith may be joyful and charity enthusiastic; so that each one is able to give even a smile, a gesture of friendship, a fraternal look, a sincere listening, a free service, knowing that, in the Spirit of Jesus, this can become a fruitful seed of hope for those who receives it. But what is the basis of our waiting? To understand it, it is good that we stop at the reasons for our hope (cf. 1 Pet 3:15).
19. “I believe in eternal life “[12]: this is what our faith professes and Christian hope finds a fundamental basis in these words. Hope, in fact, “is the theological virtue by which we aspire […] to eternal life as our happiness.”[13] The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council states: “When […] that divine foundation and that hope of eternal life are lacking, human dignity suffers very serious injuries—this is what frequently happens today—and the enigmas of life and death , of guilt and pain, remain unresolved, not rarely leading man to despair”.[14] We, however, by virtue of the hope in which we have been saved, looking at the passing of time, are certain that the history of humanity and that of each one of us is not heading towards a blind spot or an abyss. dark, but they are oriented towards the encounter with the Lord of glory. Let us therefore live in the expectation of his coming and in the hope of living forever in Him. It is with this spirit that we make our own the ardent invocation of the first Christians, with which the Holy Scripture ends: “Come, Lord Jesus!” ( Rev 22,20).
20. Jesus dead and resurrected is the center of our faith. Saint Paul, by stating this content in a few words – he uses only four verbs – transmits to us the “core” of our hope: “I have transmitted to you in the first place what I myself received: Christ died for our sins, according to the Scripture. He was buried and rose again on the third day, according to Scripture. He appeared to Peter and then to the Twelve” ( 1 Cor 15:3-5). Christ died , was buried , rose again , appeared . For us he went through the drama of death. The love of the Father resurrected him with the power of the Spirit, making his humanity the first fruit of eternity for our salvation. Christian hope consists precisely in this: in the face of death, where everything seems to end, one receives the certainty that, thanks to Christ, to his grace, which has been communicated to us in Baptism, “life does not end, but rather is transformed” [15] forever. In Baptism, in fact, buried with Christ, we receive in the risen Christ the gift of a new life, which breaks down the wall of death, making it a passage to eternity.
And although, in the face of death – a painful separation that forces us to leave our most loved ones – there is no room for discourse, the Jubilee will offer us the opportunity to rediscover, with immense gratitude, the gift of that new life received in Baptism. , capable of transfiguring its drama. In the jubilee context, it is significant to reflect on how this mystery has been understood since the first centuries of our faith. For example, Christians for a long time built the baptismal font in an octagonal shape, and today we can still admire many ancient baptisteries that preserve this shape, such as in Saint John Lateran in Rome. This indicates that the eighth day, that is, the day of the resurrection, is inaugurated in the baptismal font, the day that goes beyond the usual time, marked by the succession of weeks, thus opening the cycle of time to the dimension of eternity, to life that lasts forever. This is the goal towards which we tend in our earthly pilgrimage (cf. Rom 6:22).
The most convincing testimony of this hope is offered to us by the martyrs , who, firm in their faith in the risen Christ, knew how to renounce earthly life in order not to betray their Lord. They are present in all times and are numerous, perhaps more than ever in our days, as confessors of life that has no end. We need to preserve their testimony to make our hope fruitful.
These martyrs, belonging to the various Christian traditions, are also seeds of unity because they express the ecumenism of blood. During the Jubilee, therefore, my earnest wish is that there be an ecumenical celebration where the richness of the testimony of these martyrs is revealed.
21. What will become of us, then, after death? Beyond this threshold is eternal life with Jesus, which consists in full communion with God, in the contemplation and participation of his infinite love. What we now experience in hope, we will later see in reality. Saint Augustine wrote about it: “When I have united myself to You with all my being, nothing will be pain or sorrow for me. My life will be true life, full of You.”[16] What, therefore, characterizes this full communion? Being happy Happiness is the vocation of the human being, a goal that concerns everyone.
But what is happiness? What happiness do we hope and desire? It is not a fleeting joy, an ephemeral satisfaction that, once achieved, always continues to ask for more, in a spiral of greed where the human spirit is never satisfied, but rather is always emptier. We need a happiness that is definitively realized in that which fulfills us, that is, in love, to be able to exclaim, from now on: I am loved, therefore I exist; and I will exist forever in the Love that does not disappoint and from which nothing and no one can ever separate me. Let us remember once again the words of the Apostle: “For I am certain that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor spiritual powers, nor height nor depth, nor No other creature will ever be able to separate us from the love of God, manifested in Christ Jesus, our Lord” ( Rom 8:38-39).
22. Another reality linked to eternal life is the judgment of God , which takes place both at the end of our earthly existence and at the end of time. Art has often attempted to represent it—think of Michelangelo’s masterpiece in the Sistine Chapel—accommodating the theological conception of his time and transmitting a feeling of fear to the observer. Although it is fair to prepare ourselves with great awareness and seriousness at the moment we recapitulate existence, at the same time it is necessary to always do so from the dimension of hope, a theological virtue that sustains life and makes it possible for us not to fall into fear. The judgment of God, which is love (cf. 1 Jn 4,8.16), can only be based on love, especially in how we have exercised it with respect to those most in need, in whom Christ, the same Judge, is present (cf. Mt 25:31-46). It is, therefore, a different judgment from that of men and earthly courts; It must be understood as a relationship in truth with God love and with oneself at the heart of the unfathomable mystery of divine mercy.
In this sense, the Holy Scripture affirms: “You taught your people that the just must be a friend of men and you filled your children with a happy hope, because, after sin, you give room to repentance […] and, to be judged, we count on your mercy” ( Wis 12,19.22). As Benedict XVI wrote, “at the moment of Judgment we experience and welcome this predominance of his love over all evil in the world and in us. The pain of love becomes our salvation and our joy.”
The Judgment, then, refers to the salvation that we hope for and that Jesus has obtained for us with his death and resurrection. Therefore, it is aimed at opening us to the definitive encounter with Him. And since it is not possible to think in that context that the evil done remains hidden, it needs to be purified , to allow us the definitive passage to the love of God. In this sense, the need to pray for those who have completed their earthly path is understood; showing solidarity in the prayerful intercession that finds its own effectiveness in the communion of saints, in the common bond that unites us with Christ, firstborn of creation. In this way the jubilee indulgence, by virtue of prayer, is intended in particular for those who have gone before us, so that they may obtain full mercy.
23. Indulgence , in fact, allows us to discover how limitless God’s mercy is. Not without reason in ancient times the term “mercy” was interchangeable with “indulgence”, precisely because it aims to express the fullness of God’s forgiveness that knows no limits.
The sacrament of Penance assures us that God takes away our sins. The words of the Psalm resonate with their load of consolation: “He forgives all your faults and heals all your ailments; he rescues your life from the grave, he crowns you with love and tenderness. […] The Lord is kind and compassionate, slow to get angry and of great mercy; […] he does not treat us according to our sins nor recompense us according to our faults. As far as the sky is above the earth, so immense is his love for those who fear him, as far as the east is from the west, thus remove our sins from us” ( Ps 103,3-4.8.10-12). Sacramental Reconciliation is not only a beautiful spiritual opportunity, but it represents a decisive, essential and inalienable step for each person’s journey of faith. In it we allow the Lord to destroy our sins, to heal our hearts, to lift us up and embrace us, to show us his tender and compassionate face. There is no better way to know God than by allowing ourselves to be reconciled with Him (cf. 2 Cor 5:20), experiencing his forgiveness. Therefore, let us not renounce Confession, but let us rediscover the beauty of the sacrament of healing and joy, the beauty of the forgiveness of sins.
However, as we know from personal experience, sin “leaves its mark”, carries with it consequences; not only external, as consequences of the evil committed, but also internal, as “every sin, even venial, entails disordered attachment to creatures that must be purified, whether here below, or after death, in the state that is called Purgatory”. [18] Therefore, in our weak humanity attracted to evil, the “residual effects of sin” remain. These are removed by indulgence, always by the grace of Christ, which, as Saint Paul VI wrote, is “our ‘indulgence’.”
The Apostolic Penitentiary will be in charge of issuing the provisions to obtain and make effective the practice of jubilee indulgence.
That experience filled with forgiveness cannot but open the heart and mind to forgive . Forgiving does not change the past, it cannot modify what has already happened; and yet, forgiveness can allow the future to change and live in a different way, without resentment, anger or revenge. The future illuminated by forgiveness makes it possible for the past to be read with other, more serene eyes, even if they are still streaked with tears.
During the last extraordinary Jubilee I established the Missionaries of Mercy , who continue to carry out an important mission. During the next Jubilee, may they also exercise their ministry, restoring hope and forgiving every time a sinner addresses them with an open heart and repentant spirit. May they continue to be instruments of reconciliation and help us look to the future with the hope of the heart that comes from the mercy of the Father. I would like the bishops to take advantage of their valuable service, sending them especially to places where hope is severely tested, such as prisons, hospitals and places where the dignity of the person is trampled; in the most precarious situations and in the contexts of greatest degradation, so that no one is deprived of the possibility of receiving God’s forgiveness and consolation.
24. Hope finds its highest testimony in the Mother of God . In it we see that hope is not a futile optimism, but a gift of grace in the realism of life. Like every mother, every time Mary looked at her Son she thought about the future, and certainly those words that Simeon had addressed to her in the temple remained engraved in her heart: “This child will be the cause of fall and rise for many in Israel; It will be a sign of contradiction, and a sword will pierce your heart.” ( Luke 2:34-35). For this reason, at the foot of the cross, while she saw the innocent Jesus suffer and die, even crossed by heartbreaking pain, she repeated her “yes,” without losing hope and trust in the Lord. In this way she cooperated for us in the fulfillment of what her Son had said, announcing that “he must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the high priests and the scribes; that he must be condemned to death and resurrected after three days.” “( Mk 8:31), and in the torment of that pain offered out of love she became our Mother, Mother of hope. It is no coincidence that popular piety continues to invoke the Blessed Virgin as Stella maris , a title expressive of the certain hope that, in the stormy events of life, the Mother of God comes to our aid, sustains us and invites us to trust and keep waiting.
In this regard, I am pleased to remember that the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City is preparing to celebrate, in 2031, the 500 years of the first appearance of the Virgin. Through Juan Diego, the Mother of God sent a revolutionary message of hope that she still repeats today to all pilgrims and the faithful: “Am I not here, who am your mother?”[20] A similar message is engraved in the hearts of so many Marian shrines spread around the world, destinations of numerous pilgrims, who entrust their concerns, their pains and their hopes to the Mother of God. In this Jubilee Year, may shrines be holy places of welcome and privileged spaces to generate hope. I invite pilgrims who will come to Rome to stop and pray at the Marian shrines of the city to venerate the Virgin Mary and invoke her protection. I trust that everyone, especially the suffering and troubled, can experience the closeness of the most affectionate of mothers who never abandons her children; she who for the holy People of God is “a sign of certain hope and consolation”.[21]
25. As we approach the Jubilee, let us return to Holy Scripture and feel these words addressed to us: “We who turn to him are powerfully encouraged to cling to the hope that is offered to us. This hope that we have is like an anchor of the soul, solid and firm , that penetrates beyond the veil, right where Jesus entered for us, as a precursor” ( Heb 6:18-20). It is a strong invitation to never lose the hope that has been given to us, to embrace it by finding refuge in God.
The image of the anchor is suggestive of understanding the stability and security that we possess if we entrust ourselves to the Lord Jesus, even in the midst of the turbulent waters of life. The storms can never prevail, because we are anchored in the hope of grace, which makes us capable of living in Christ overcoming sin, fear and death. This hope, much greater than the satisfactions of each day and the improvements in living conditions, transports us beyond trials and exhorts us to walk without losing sight of the greatness of the goal to which we have been called, heaven.
The next Jubilee, therefore, will be a Holy Year characterized by hope that does not decline, hope in God. May it also help us to recover the necessary trust—both in the Church and in society—in interpersonal ties, in international relations, in the promotion of the dignity of every person and in respect for creation. May the believing witness in the world be a leaven of genuine hope, an announcement of new heavens and a new earth (cf. 2 Pt 3:13), where justice and harmony dwell among peoples, oriented towards the fulfillment of the promise of the Mister.
Let us allow ourselves to be attracted by hope from now on and allow it to be contagious through us to all who desire it. May our life be able to tell them: “Wait in the Lord and be strong; have courage and wait in the Lord” ( Ps 27:14). May the strength of that hope fill our present as we confidently await the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and glory now and for centuries to come.