2025 Jubilee Year “PILGRIMS OF HOPE’ 

What is a Jubilee?
The Jubilee Years, also known as Holy Years, started in 1300AD and recall the great jubilee of Israel: a time for land to be rested and debts to be cancelled, when God called people to be reconciled with one another and with Him. They now occur every 25 years, although the next will be 2033 – the anniversary of Christ’s death and resurrection and the decent of the Holy Spirit.
These Years, the Church explains, are years “of reconciliation between adversaries, of conversion and receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation, ‘…and consequently of solidarity, hope, justice, commitment to serve God with joy and in peace with our brothers and sisters”
When is the Jubilee?
The Jubilee Year will run from the opening of the Holy Door in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, on Tuesday 24 December 2024 to the Feast of Epiphany 2026.
What is the theme? 
The theme for this Jubilee year is ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ . Read Pope Francis’ letter here where he launched the Jubilee year.
Letter from Pope Francis

The logo for the Jubilee is represented here

The official hymn and prayer can be found here

Jubilee Hymn
Jubilee Prayer
Reflections on Hope
Hope is an integral part of Christian life, because without hope we are doomed to falter and fail in our pilgrim journey.
But how is this hope different from faith? We must remember that faith and hope are deeply interwoven, yet they are not identical.  Whereas faith draws us to the truth of God, it is hope which propels us towards his goodness.  Without hope, our faith risks becoming sterile, inanimate, lifeless, and discouraged.  Faith without hope is an exposed and endangered faith. Indeed, faith without hope is exactly the kind of lifeless faith which St James warns about: “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (Jas 2:17).
When our faith is devoid of hope, we inevitably slide into despair, and eventually we lose our faith altogether.  Hope is therefore essential for sustaining the life of the Christian, empowering us to allow God to guide us through difficulties.
As we enter the doors of this jubilee year and focus on our mission as pilgrims of hope, we remember the opposite of hope is fear. Fear can paralyse, stunting growth spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually. Fear can stop our pilgrim journey in its tracks. The gift of hope dispels fear, banishes it, allowing us to embrace our vocation. Christian hope is a gift from God which fosters within us a deep and appropriate desire for him and animates us on our journey towards him.
In this Jubilee year then let us always find hope and let hope be our direction in all aspects of our lives motivated by the words of St Thomas Aquinas  ‘the proper and principle object of hope is eternal happiness’ (ST II,IIae, 17.2).
What are we doing in school in this Jubilee Year?
The St Thomas Aquinas Feast day on 28th January will be the official launch across all Trust schools.
In January we will create our Door of Hope at the entrance to the school chapel. This will remain in place for the duration of the Jubilee. Throughout the year, all students will enter through the door and will place their hopes in the basket at the altar. These will be prayed for at our weekly Mass
We will adopt the Trust Jubilee prayer which Chaplaincy teams across our Trust, have written together; the prayer will be used in assemblies and form prayer time:
Pope Francis asked us to share signs of hope with people during the Jubilee. We will keep you updated with our plans for this throughout the year.
Below are some photos of our Feast Day Mass and Doors of Hope.