With the Bull of Indiction ‘Spes non confundit’ Pope Francis announced the Holy Year 2025 in May last year and will be officially opened on December 25, 2024. The first words of his writing give the central message of this year to ‘Hope does not perish’ (see Rom 5,5). It is a hope that endures despite all the challenges of earthly life and is based on the certainty of God's love, which is more than mere optimism. “Christian hope, in fact, does not disappoint us, because it is founded on the certainty that nothing and no one can ever separate us from the love of God” (no. 3).

Pope Boniface VIII first introduced the Holy Years in 1300. These special years are “an intense experience of grace and hope for the whole Church”. Holy Years take place every 25 years, with some exceptions. An essential sign of these years are the Holy Doors in the four papal basilicas in Rome. They are only opened in a Holy Year and can then be passed through “to enable a living experience of God's love, which awakens in the heart the sure hope of salvation in Christ” (No. 6). He is the saint par excellence, the good shepherd, our savior and redeemer, who said of himself: “I am the door; if anyone enters through me, he will be saved; he will come in and go out, and find pasture” (Jn 10:9). It is therefore always our encounter with him that saves us. The Holy Doors, like all the other graces of the Holy Year, point to Christ and lead to him.

Since the Holy Doors in Rome and most other places are not so easy to reach, pilgrimage or a spiritual journey are also an essential part of a Holy Year. The Pope writes about this: “It is no coincidence that pilgrimage is an essential element of every Holy Year. Setting out on a journey is typical for those who set out in search of the meaning of life. A pilgrimage on foot is very helpful in rediscovering the value of silence, of exertion and of focusing on the essentials” (No. 5). Even those who cannot make the pilgrimage to Rome are invited to be or become ‘pilgrims of hope’ in this Holy Year. On December 29, 2024, our Archbishop Dr. Heiner Koch opened the Holy Year in our archdiocese and, above all, elevated the three basilicas of St. Hedwig's Cathedral (Berlin-Mitte), the Rosary Basilica (Berlin-Steglitz) and St. John's Basilica (Berlin-Neukölln) to special places of pilgrimage for the Holy Year. But there are many other places and opportunities to experience the graces of this year, which are also listed on the website of the archdiocese. These also include the offers of the Ecumenical Pilgrim Initiative of Western Pomerania

Another significant gift of grace of the Holy Year is the indulgence, which can be acquired primarily in the context of the sacrament of penance and prayer. Pope Francis explains this vividly in his letter: “However, as we know from our own experience, ‘sin leaves traces’, it has consequences: not only external ones, in the sense of the consequences of the evil committed, but also internal ones, in that ' every sin, even a venial one, entails a harmful attachment to creatures, which requires purification, either here on earth or after death in the so-called Purgatory” (CCC 1472). Therefore, in our weak human condition, tempted by evil, “the effects of sin remain”. These are removed by the indulgence, and always through the grace of Christ, who, as St. Paul VI wrote, is “our ‘indulgence’”. A special document from the Apostolic Penitentiary, in which the possibilities and conditions for acquiring the jubilee indulgence are explained.

The Holy Year 2025, in which we commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation with our Protestant sisters and brothers in Stralsund and celebrate the jubilee of 250 years of Catholic life in Stralsund and Western Pomerania begins in January with the Alliance Prayer Week under the theme “Hope - Together hope will live.” This cannot be a coincidence. It will be an expression of our common desire that this year will be a year of hope and grace for us and for all the people of our country, our cities and villages. With the concluding words from Pope Francis' Bull of Indiction: “The Holy Year to come will thus be marked by the hope that does not disappoint, the hope in God. May it help us to rediscover the trust needed in the Church and in society, in interpersonal and international relations, in the promotion of the dignity of each person and in respect for creation. May our faithful witness be a leaven of authentic hope in the world, the announcement of a new heaven and a new earth (cf. 2 Pt 3:13), where we can live in justice and harmony among peoples, awaiting the fulfillment of the Lord's promise. Let us allow ourselves to be drawn to hope and let us allow it to spread through us to all those who long for it. May our lives tell them: “Hope in the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage. And hope in the Lord!” (Ps. 27:14). May the power of hope fill our present as we confidently await the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and glory, now and forever” (No. 25).

The Jubilee Bell

A gift from the Pontifical Bell Foundry in Agnone
to Pope Francis for the Holy Year

/Johannes Schaan