By Bishop James Conley
As we make our final preparations for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and begin the Christmas season, I have been thinking a lot lately about numbers.
The birth of Christ
Isn’t it interesting that, despite the growing secularism in our world today and the apparent disappearance of Christianity from the public square, we still mark our calendar from the date of the birth of Jesus Christ? No matter what religion you profess – or even if you profess no religion at all – you still must follow a calendar that is calculated upon the birth of Jesus Christ.
This December 25th will mark the two thousand and twenty fourth year since the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. For some reason, this fact really struck me this year.
Jubilee Year of Hope
Perhaps another reason numbers have been on my mind recently is the fact that next year, 2025, has been designated by Pope Francis as a jubilee year. A jubilee year, also known as a “holy year,” is a special year in the life of the Church. As I noted in my letter to the clergy, religious and lay faithful, the tradition of holy years dates to 1300, when Pope Boniface VIII convoked the first holy year. Ever since, ordinary jubilees have been celebrated every 25 or 50 years, with extraordinary jubilees added in certain years, depending on special needs or unique anniversaries.
In the Old Testament, a jubilee year was a special year of remission of sins, a canceling of debts and of universal pardon. In Leviticus, we read that jubilee years occurred every 50 years: “And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each return to his clan” (Lev 25:10).
Earlier this year, on May 9, the Solemnity of the Ascension, Pope Francis declared in his Bull of Indiction entitled Spes Non Confundit (Hope Does Not Disappoint), that 2025 will be a jubilee year. Taken from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans 5:5, Pope Francis wrote: “In the spirit of hope, the Apostle Paul addressed these words of encouragement to the Christian community of Rome. Hope is also the central message of the coming jubilee that, in accordance with an ancient tradition, the Pope proclaims every twenty-five years.”
The theme of the Holy Year is “Pilgrims of Hope.” Pope Francis writes, “Everyone knows what it is to hope. In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring.” The Holy Father concludes, “For all of us, may the Jubilee be an opportunity to be renewed in hope. God’s word helps us find reasons for that hope.”
Opening Mass
The Jubilee Holy Year will officially be opened in Rome on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, when Pope Francis will open the Holy Doors of St. Peter’s Basilica preceding the midnight Mass. Holy Doors will be opened at Rome’s three other major basilicas as follows: at St. John Lateran Dec. 29, St. Mary Major Jan. 1, and St. Paul’s Outside the Walls Jan. 5. A Holy Door will also be opened Dec. 26 at Rebbibia Prison, a Roman prison Pope Francis has visited twice before, to celebrate Mass and to wash inmate’s feet on Holy Thursday.
On Sunday, Dec. 29, at 6 p.m., I will open the main doors of the Cathedral of the Risen Christ in Lincoln, and inaugurate the Jubilee Year for the Diocese of Lincoln with a Solemn Mass. All bishops around the world are expected to open the Holy Year locally Dec. 29 with Masses at their cathedrals. All are welcome to our Mass in the Cathedral of the Risen Christ. (Again, please see my accompanying letter for more details on what we have planned for the Jubilee Year in the Diocese of Lincoln.)
The Holy Father has asked that every diocesan cathedral in the world place a wooden cross in the sanctuary, to remind us of the victory of Jesus Christ over sin and the salvation he won for the world. Father Troy Schweiger, pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Lincoln and master woodworker, has fashioned a beautiful, full-sized cross out of white oak that will be blessed and placed in the Cathedral Dec. 29, and will remain in the cathedral sanctuary for the entire jubilee year.
Nicene Creed
Another significant historical event that will occur during the Jubilee Year 2025 is the fact that this year will also mark the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicea and the proclamation of the Nicene Creed. This Profession of Faith is the same Creed we profess, word for word, every Sunday at Holy Mass. It is marvelous to contemplate the fact that Christians for 1,700 years have consistently, week in week out, proclaimed belief in this profession of faith every Sunday at Mass.
In a recent column, George Weigel put it like this: “For it was Nicene I that the Church confronted head-on the threat of Arianism, which denied the divinity of Christ and thus called into question the two fundamental doctrines of the faith, the Incarnation and the Trinity. Had the Arians prevailed at Nicea – and they had done an excellent job of propagating heresy throughout the Mediterranean world – Christianity as we know it would not exist. The victory of the party of orthodoxy at Nicea I is thus very much worth celebrating on this anniversary.”
Mass of the Americas
Another very exciting event that will take place during the Jubilee Year 2025 is a response to Pope Francis’ call to prepare for the 500th anniversary of the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego in Mexico City, which literally brought Christ to the Americas in 1531. “I urge all members of the pilgrim Church in the Americas, pastors and faithful,” Pope Francis said, “to participate in this celebratory journey that aims to promote an encounter with God through Our Lady of Guadalupe, for the renewal of the social and ecclesial fabric of these peoples and communities.”
I am happy to announce that on Dec. 12, 2025, at 6 p.m. at the Cathedral of the Risen Christ, I will celebrate the acclaimed Mass of the Americas, a unity Mass in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception commissioned by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship.
The Mass of the Americas uses the texts in Spanish, English, Latin and Nahuatl and raises Mexican folk hymns to Mary (especially La Guadalupana) into the high sacred music tradition of the Church. Since its premiere celebration in San Francisco in 2018, the Mass of the Americas, composed by Frank La Rocca, composer in residence at the Benedict XVI Institute, has traveled to cathedrals and churches across the United States. The musical recording released in 2022 hit #1 on Billboard’s traditional classical music charts.
The Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit founded by Archbishop Cordileone in 2018 to pursue a unique mission: to open the door of sacred beauty for Catholics and all people of good will, to bring them closer to God. According to the website of the Benedict XVI Institute: “we pursue this mission through two great strategies: providing practical resources for more beautiful and reverent liturgies and energizing a Catholic culture of the arts. Our core vision: The greatest art, the greatest liturgy the Catholic Church has ever produced is yet to come.” Recently I have been invited to serve on the board of directors of the Benedict XVI Institute.
The Jubilee Year concludes with the closing of the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica Jan. 6, 2026, on the feast of the Epiphany. However, the Holy Doors at Rome’s other major basilicas will close Dec. 28, 2025, the same day dioceses are to end local celebrations of the Holy Year.
Christ’s death and resurrection
Back to numbers. The Jubilee Year also looks ahead to another number, 2033. Eight years from now, in the year 2033, the Church will mark the 2,000th anniversary of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection, which Pope Francis called “another fundamental celebration for all Christians.”
So, numbers and anniversaries are important. Numbers not only mark time and historical anniversaries, but they also instill hope and expectation. As pilgrims of hope, we look forward to a future with hope. As we prepare to celebrate Christmas this year, I pray each one of us will make our own pilgrimage of hope to Bethlehem. We can bring with us all our worries and fears and lay them at the feet of the newborn Savior, and our hope will be renewed.
It is my prayer that Christmas and the upcoming Holy Year of Jubilee, be a time of grace, peace and hope for all of us.
