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I’m Planning a Lone Star ‘Pilgrimage of Hope’ for the Jubilee Year
Since I can’t be in Rome
In the year 1300, Pope Boniface VIII declared the first Jubilee Year (also known as a Holy Year) in the Catholic Church. The frequency of subsequent Jubilee Years changed over the centuries, first being celebrated every 100 years, then every 50 (starting with Pope Clement VI in 1350), and finally every 25 years (this change was made by Pope Paul II in 1470, but by the time it was celebrated in 1475, he had died and Sixtus IV was pope). Keeping with the 800-year tradition, Pope Francis has declared 2025 to be a Jubilee Year, with the theme of “Pilgrims of Hope.”
With that bit of history out of the way, you are probably wondering just what the heck a Jubilee Year is. That’s a fair question, and one I will do my best to answer as briefly as possible. Also, I will be using “Jubilee Year” and “Holy Year” interchangeably going forward.
The Jubilee Year is first found in the Book of Leviticus and is a year of liberation that occurs every 50 years. In Leviticus 25:8–10 it is described this way:
“You shall count seven weeks of years — seven times seven years — such that the seven weeks of years amount to forty-nine years. Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month let the ram’s horn resound; on this, the Day of Atonement…
