Jubilee Holy Year 2025: A year of the Lord’s favour

The Catholic Church around the world will celebrate a Jubilee Holy Year from 24 December 2024 to 6 January 2026, with the motto ‘Pilgrims of Hope’. Pope Francis has proclaimed 2025 as a time for hope and for personal encounter with Jesus Christ, who is the “door” to our salvation.
The Jubilee Year will involve pilgrimages to the Holy Door at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome and to designated pilgrimage sites in local dioceses around the world, including here in the Archdiocese of Hobart.
The Holy Door at St Peter’s Basilica will be opened by the Holy Father at the beginning of the Jubilee Year and it will remain open for the entire 12 months. During this time pilgrims will be able to pass through the Holy Door and obtain the special Jubilee Indulgence.
Anyone who participates in the Holy Year, even at the local diocesan level, can obtain the Jubilee Indulgence which removes the effects of sin from one’s soul. The Indulgence can be obtained by making a pilgrimage to a sacred Jubilee site and taking part in prayer, a liturgical celebration or the sacrament of reconciliation.
On 9 May 2024, Pope Francis issued the Papal Bull ‘Spes non confundit’, ‘Hope does not disappoint’ (Rom 5:5), proclaiming the Ordinary Jubilee of 2025.
“Hope is also the central message of the coming Jubilee that, in accordance with an ancient tradition, the Pope proclaims every twenty-five years,” Pope Francis stated.
“My thoughts turn to all those pilgrims of hope who will travel to Rome in order to experience the Holy Year and to all those others who, though unable to visit the City of the Apostles Peter and Paul, will celebrate it in their local Churches.
“For everyone, may the Jubilee be a moment of genuine, personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, the ‘door’ (cf. Jn 10:7.9) of our salvation, whom the Church is charged to proclaim always, everywhere and to all as ‘our hope’ (1 Tim 1:1).”
Pope Francis said he hoped that during the Jubilee Year of 2025 “the light of Christian hope” would “illumine every man and woman, as a message of God’s love addressed to all”.
“And may the Church bear faithful witness to this message in every part of the world,” the Holy Father said.
A Jubilee Year message from Archbishop Julian

A Holy Year is an opportunity for us all to renew our faith and deepen our relationship with God and with the Church in the person of the Holy Father.
A Holy Year is seen as a year of pilgrimage. While a physical pilgrimage is encouraged, it is the spiritual journey that is important above all.
The focus of the pilgrimage in a Holy Year is a visit to the Tomb of St Peter and to pass through the Holy Door in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
Each diocese has been asked to designate certain churches as places of pilgrimage for those unable to make a pilgrimage to Rome.
I encourage you to participate in this Holy Year. Here in Tasmania we are being invited as parish communities to make a visit to one of the four designated churches.
May this Holy Year be a source of blessing for us individually and as a diocese.
Archbishop Julian Porteous
Archbishop of Hobart
What is a Jubilee Year?

The term “Jubilee” comes from the Hebrew term “yobel”, which means “ram’s horn”. In Jewish tradition, the sound of the horn marked the beginning of a special year of remission and forgiveness. The Catholic Church adopted this tradition, turning it into a year of pilgrimage, prayer, and reconciliation. A Jubilee year occurred every 50 years, described in Leviticus 25:8-13. It was intended to be marked as a time to re-establish a proper relationship with God, with one another, and with all of creation, and involved the forgiveness of debts, the return of misappropriated land, and a fallow period for the fields.
The First Jubilee in the Catholic tradition occurred in 1300 under Pope Boniface VIII. The frequency of ‘Holy Years’ has changed over time starting at every 100 years and in 1470 Pope Paul II made it every 25 years. There have also been ‘extraordinary’ Holy Years on other years such as Pope Francis’ 2015 proclamation of Year of Mercy.
A Jubilee is considered a ‘Holy Year’ since it is a time in which God’s holiness transforms us. The key place of pilgrimage is to visit the Tomb of St Peter, to go through the Holy Door into St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Over time other places of pilgrimage have been added to this.
By participating in the Holy Year, one is granted a plenary indulgence.
Pilgrimage

The etymology of the word “pilgrimage” is quite telling and has undergone little change in meaning over the years. The word comes from the Latin “per ager,” meaning “across the fields,” or perhaps from “per eger” meaning “border crossing”: both possible origins point to the distinctive aspect of undertaking a journey.
To go on pilgrimage is not simply to visit a place or to admire its treasures of nature, art or history. To go on pilgrimage really means to step out of ourselves in order to encounter God where He has revealed himself, where His grace has shone with particular splendour and produced rich fruits of conversion and holiness among those who believe.
The first and most important place of pilgrimage is to visit the Holy Land, to visit the places associated with the Lord’s life and ministry. In particular, to visit the holy places associated with the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord.
The second place of pilgrimage is to go to Rome, to the city of the martyrdom of Peter and Paul. A pilgrimage to Rome enables us to strengthen our union with the spirit of the Apostles’ witness of faith and love. It is also an opportunity to deepen our sense of union with the Successor of the Apostles, the Pope. Rome is also the place of the tombs of many of the great saints. Rome is a special place where we can unite ourselves with the traditions of our faith.
The Holy Door

Passing through the Holy Door is not only a spiritual experience but also a physical one. The door is a looming structure, standing at almost 12 feet tall and weighing over 10,000 pounds. It is a sobering reminder of the that we must prepare ourselves for the transition from this world to the next.
There are now four Holy Doors located at the Papal basilicas in Rome. The basilicas are St Peter’s, St John Lateran, St Mary Major, and St Paul Outside the Walls.
In the Catholic tradition, passing through the Holy Door is believed to bring spiritual blessings and forgiveness of sins. It is seen as a symbolic act of entering into the presence of God and starting a new journey of faith. This tradition dates back to the 15th century and has been a significant event for Catholics ever since.
The Holy Doors are only open during a Holy Year and are otherwise bricked up from the inside. The Holy Door at St Peter’s depicts scenes of man’s sin and his redemption through God’s mercy. While the principal Holy Door is at St Peter’s, subsequent Jubilees have utilised all four Papal basilicas. We will be visiting each one.
By going through these doors, pilgrims are granted a plenary indulgence.
Indulgences
An indulgence is the action of the Church by which she opens the treasury of graces for us and bestows the grace of Christ and the saints upon us as a means of making atonement for our sins. The idea of indulgences is frequently misunderstood, especially because of the history of the abuse of indulgences in the Middle Ages. This abuse was one of the contributing reasons for the Protestant Reformation. An indulgence is not a permission to commit sin.

The believer who enters the Holy Door with a spirit of repentance and the desire to follow Christ with complete dedication after the example of the holy martyrs receives an indulgence for himself or for a departed soul.
During this Jubilee pilgrimage, we undertake some specific spiritual exercises to be able to receive an indulgence:
- Passing through the Holy Door: This is a symbolic act that represents entry into a sacred place and the beginning of the spiritual pilgrimage.
- The Pilgrimage: The pilgrimage is a physical journey that symbolises a spiritual journey towards God.
- The Profession of Faith: During the Jubilee, pilgrims are invited to renew their profession of faith.
- Reconciliation: This is a time of personal reflection and repentance of sins. It is an opportunity for pilgrims to seek conversion and God’s forgiveness.
- A Gesture of Charity: Finally, pilgrims are invited to make a gesture of charity. This can be an act of kindness, a gift to those in need, or any other act that helps restore justice to the world.
These spiritual exercises help pilgrims to fully experience the graces associated with the Holy Year. They enable us to draw closer to God and seek His mercy.
To obtain the Jubilee Indulgence the pilgrims will say the Our Father, make a Profession of Faith, and include a prayer to the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, so that in this Holy Year everyone “will come to know the closeness of Mary, the most affectionate of mothers, who never abandons her children” (Spes non confundit, 24).
Archdiocese of Hobart: Holy Year Pilgrimages to Churches

Our Holy Father has announced 2025 as a Holy Year. At the heart of a Holy Year is the ancient Christian practice of going on pilgrimage. While pilgrims are invited to come to Rome and enter St Peter’s Basilica through the Holy Door, dioceses are encouraged to provide opportunities for pilgrimage for those unable to go to Rome. The Archdiocese of Hobart will provide four churches as places of pilgrimage during 2025. Each parish is invited to plan a pilgrimage to one of these sites.
A pilgrimage could be organized on a Saturday, with parishioners travelling in their own cars, or a bus could be hired for the purpose. Following Mass and prayers in the church a picnic could be arranged. The other option would be to have a pilgrimage on a Sunday after the main Mass. This would suit pilgrimages with a shorter distance to travel.
Pilgrims can obtain the Jubilee Indulgence if they devoutly visit any Jubilee site and there, for a suitable period, attend a Mass, or Eucharistic adoration. To obtain the Jubilee Indulgence the pilgrims will say the Our Father, make the Profession of Faith, and include a prayer to the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, so that in this Holy Year everyone “will come to know the closeness of Mary, the most affectionate of mothers, who never abandons her children” (Spes non confundit, 24).
It is recommended that the pilgrims, either personally or communally, recite the Holy Year Pilgrim’s Prayer.
The Office of the Sacred Penitentiary describes the conditions under which an Indulgence is granted:
“During the Ordinary Jubilee of 2025, all … the faithful, who are truly repentant and free from any affection for sin (cf. Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, IV ed., norm. 20, § 1), who are moved by a spirit of charity and who, during the Holy Year, purified through the sacrament of penance and refreshed by Holy Communion, pray for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff, will be able to obtain from the treasury of the Church a plenary indulgence, with remission and forgiveness of all their sins, which can be applied in suffrage to the souls in Purgatory.”
Thus, the visit to one of the designated churches in Tasmania becomes a participation in the Holy Year, and a source of personal sanctification.
Holy Trinity, Westbury
Father James Hogan was the first resident priest of the area around Westbury. He was instrumental in the building of Holy Trinity Church and establishing Tasmania’s first Convent of the Sisters of St Joseph at Westbury in 1887.
The Church was designed by Henry Hunter, Tasmania’s most prolific Victorian architect. It was built in the Gothic style, constructed of bluestone with sandstone dressings and can seat up to 800 people. The clock tower was designed by Alen Cameron Walker best known for the GPO in Hobart and completed in 1901. The church is the largest of Hunter’s churches. At the time Westbury had one of the largest populations of Catholics in Tasmania
Hunter’s architectural work was heavily influenced by Augustus Pugin, which is evident in all his buildings, utilising Pugin’s patterns extensively. Pugin was a prolific architect in his own right and good friends with our first Bishop, Robert William Wilson. Pugin’s thoughts on church architecture were liturgically and theologically based, thus expressing and embodying in their elements and their symbolism the faith of the Church.
This is why Pugin always referred to Gothic as truly Christian architecture, because it was perceived by him to be the most perfect embodiment of faith and doctrine. He saw it as having the power to rekindle the faith and its associated moral values. Hunter, a practitioner of the Gothic Revival Movement, carried on this tradition.
The High Altar was created by Alexander North alongside the original side altars, now unfortunately, long removed. North was the architect of the Church of the Apostles, in Launceston and numerous other churches in Tasmania. The High Altar has significant similarities in design with the High Altar in the Church of the Apostles.
The Sisters of St Joseph began their work in Tasmania in Westbury. The Sisters arrived in Launceston after a rough voyage, received hospitality from the Presentation Sisters, and after a cold trip in a horse drawn vehicle, were greeted by the people of Westbury on 24 May 1887.
The Sisters have contributed to the life of the town in many ways. They taught in the school until 1971, teaching practical crafts such as fancy needlework for girls and woodcarving for boys. Many children enjoyed music and singing lessons and were part of bands and concerts.
A pilgrimage to Westbury enables us to honour a pioneering priest and one of the early Catholic communities in rural Tasmania, and to recognise the extraordinary service of the Josephite sisters not only in Westbury but in many parishes across Tasmania.
Reflection
Australia’s first saint, St Mary Mackillop, founded the Sisters of St Joseph. Their mission was to seek out the poorest members of the community. They gave priority to those in rural and isolated locations.
The Josephites have had a significant impact on the Church in Tasmania, providing education for children in many small rural communities. Twenty-five Josephite schools were established in the north, south and west and in the ensuing years, education in all its aspects became the norm for the Sisters.
“Let St Joseph’s true children remember their mission and seek first the poorest, most neglected parts of God’s vineyard.”
St Mary MacKillop – 6 March 1900

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Ross
The Church of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart occupies a prominent site at the heart of the Northern Midlands village of Ross, a beautiful settlement with its historic bridge, sandstone buildings and convict history. Fr John Graham built this church by modifying a Georgian store-bakery while he was Parish Priest of Campbell Town in 1920.
A Missionary of the Sacred Heart, in French, Missionnaires du Sacré-Coeur (MSC), Fr Graham’s great love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus is evident in the Church’s title and in the building’s stained-glass windows. Other churches at Fingal, Campbell Town and Mangana were also built under Fr Graham. Mangana is also dedicated to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
The architect, Alexander North was Tasmania’s leading ecclesiastical architect of the period, circa 1920, he converted the existing structure into the church we have today. The building is still intact today, except for the statue of the Sacred Heart which was formerly on the top of the spire.
The detail in the roof trusses is quite unique, North being a leading Australian Arts and Crafts architect, and the pews beautifully demonstrate the principles of that Movement also. Even the framing of the windows was constructed beautifully. The stained-glass windows were created by William Montgomery, who brought the latest European styles to Australia and achieved instant success and his work is found throughout Tasmania and Victoria.
The MSC priests sought to promote a love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus which reveals the depths of God’s love for humanity.

Reflection
Jules Chevalier, founder of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart wrote in 1865:
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has been a strong feature of popular Catholic spirituality up to recent times. Churches in Australia invariably have a side altar dedicated to the Sacred Heart, or a prominent image of the Sacred Heart. It reflects a devotion which was a significant feature of Catholic life during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Though composed of different members, humanity forms one body and one blood. The heart that gives life to all the members of this great body is the Heart of Christ. He alone unites us together and He alone unites us also to God. As soon as we separate ourselves from him, we separate ourselves from one another. And we lose the true feeling of human fraternity by losing the life of God, which is its source. This divine heart is the centre around which all hearts gravitate. It is the sacred bridge thrown across the bottomless chasm that separates divinity from humanity.

Visiting this church, we can recall the contribution of religious orders like the MSCs who assisted in the establishing of the Church in Tasmania in its early years. Looking at the depictions of the Sacred Heart in the stained-glass windows can inspire us to appreciate afresh the depth of love found in the heart of Christ.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart was inspired particularly by the apparitions of the Lord to St Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1673. In the first of several visions Jesus said to her,
My divine heart is so impassioned with love for men, and for you in particular, that being unable any longer to contain within itself the flames of its burning charity, it must spread them abroad by your means and manifest itself to others in order to enrich them with the precious treasures that I reveal to you, and that contain graces of sanctification and salvation necessary to withdraw them from the abyss of perdition.
She experienced several more visions during which the Lord asked that the image of the Sacred Heart be prepared. Then in the fourth vision Jesus asked for a special feast in honour of the Sacred Heart. Showing her his Heart, he said,
Behold this heart which has loved men so much that it has spared nothing but has utterly consumed and exhausted itself in order to show them its love, And for reward I receive from most of them nothing but ingratitude, through irreverence and blasphemy, the coldness and contempt, which they show towards me in this Sacrament of love. But it hurts me still more that hearts consecrated to me should treat me so.
Let us ponder these words of the Lord.
St John the Evangelist, Richmond

In its setting beyond the historic 1825 bridge spanning the Coal River, St John the Evangelist Church in the popular tourist destination of Richmond can justly claim the title of Tasmania’s most visited and photographed church. It also has the distinction of being the oldest continuously used Catholic church in Australia, having been opened on 31 December 1837. The spire has been replaced three times, most recently in 1972.
The story of St John’s Church can be traced back to Australia’s first Catholic bishop, John Bede Polding OSB (1794–1877), who visited Van Diemen’s Land—as Tasmania was then known—in August 1835 on route to taking up his posting in Sydney. Before leaving, Polding travelled to Richmond where he blessed the foundation stone for a new church, making this the first formal act of an Australian Catholic bishop, and left plans for the building by the Bath architect Henry Edmund Goodridge (c.1800–63).
The original church has had several extensions which were designed by architect Augustus Pugin. These were complete by 1859. Pugin, designed the fittings and furnishings of St John’s, many of these designs have been copied and can be found in other Tasmanian churches. Pugin’s church model is an important indication of Bishop Willson’s and Pugin’s commitment to furnishing churches in accordance with the late-medieval English Sarum Rite.
The Sarum Rite was developed in the 11th century, created by St Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury. The Sarum Rite draws upon the Celtic Rite and the local adaptations of the Roman Rite. Pugin designed all the sanctuaries of his churches to accommodate the Sarum Rite rather than the Roman Rite.
The design of the Sedilia (the seat) on the side of the sanctuary is a special feature of the Sarum Rite. A copy of the Sedilia is found in St Patrick’s Church, Colebrook. Hobart architect Henry Hunter had copies produced for St Mary’s Cathedral (1866) and Sacred Heart Church, New Town (1882), though they no longer exist.
Reflection
The writings of St John the Evangelist have been very important in the life of the church. It was the last gospel written. St John focused on the divinity of Jesus and the major themes of Jesus’ teaching. He also wrote the final book of the New Testament, the Book of Revelations.
His Gospel begins with the words:
“In the beginning was the Word: and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things came to be, not one thing had its being but through him. All that came to be had life in him and that life was the light of men, a light that shines in the dark, a light that darkness could not overpower.” (John 1:1-5)
The gospel of John contains the “I am” sayings of Jesus. These sayings teach us a great deal about Jesus. They are:
- I am the bread of life (6:35)
- I am the light of the world (8:12)
- I am the gate for the sheepfold (10:7)
- I am the good shepherd (10:11)
- I am the way, and the truth, and the life (14:6)
- I am the vine, you are the branches (15:5)
Reflecting on these gospel readings, can help us to know Jesus in a deeper way. We also have an opportunity to reflect on who Jesus is to us. How he has impacted our life and will continue to impact our lives.
Visiting this church which has a rich history we can pray for the strengthening of the Catholic faith across this beautiful island. As this historic church is dedicated to St John the Evangelist, we can ask his intercession that people will come to believe in Jesus as he did. He ended Chapter 20 of this Gospel with the words,
Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Victories

A shrine, as distinct from a parish church, has a special identity and purpose. It is a designated holy place set aside as a place of devotion. Shrines are frequently associated with saints or with significant spiritual events. They are places of pilgrimage.
Anyone can set up a shrine in their own home: simply a place for prayer, perhaps with an image or a candle. In Catholic countries wayside shrines are common, such as crosses, calvaries and statues of Our Lady.
The Catholic Church recognises a shrine officially if people make pilgrimages to it and it is approved by the local bishop. There are three types of shrines, Diocesan shrines which are approved by the bishop of the diocese, such as Our Lady of Victories. National shrines which are approved by the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, of which there are three in Victoria and two in Sydney. International shrines such as Lourdes which are approved by the Holy See, the Diocese of Rome.
This shrine is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Victories. The church here was blessed under this title and the large statue on it’s tower is testimony to the devotion of the first parishioners.
The title, Our Lady of Victories, is traced back to the sixteenth century when Europe was in serious threat of invasion by the Ottoman Turks. As a large fleet of Turks crossed the Mediterranean, Pope Pius V called for a Holy League of Christian powers to assemble. They gathered 206 galley ships and 80,000 soldiers to oppose a superior force of 230 galley ships and 120,000 soldiers. They met in the Gulf of Lepanto.
The Christian world, encouraged by the Pope, appealed to the Blessed Virgin and the Rosary was prayed in intercession. Shifts in the wind gave the Christian forces the advantage and they won the day. The victory was attributed to the intercession of our Lady and Pope Pius V established a feast in honour of Our Lady of Victories. It is also known under the title of Our Lady, Help of Christians.
The shrine at Lutana, using the church built in 1964 as the parish church for Lutana-Goodwood, is a place in which people can gather and pray, not only for our own needs but also for the needs of the Church as it faces many challenges today, particularly the challenge of being able to profess and proclaim the faith in our times. In very many ways the title, Our Lady of Victories, is most appropriate. Here we can seek the intercession of the Blessed Virgin confident that she will ensure the victory of God’s grace and mercy.
Reflection
Our Lady’s powerful intercession has always been a belief of the Catholic Church. Next to Christ her Son, she pleads our cause with a mother’s heart and concern for whatever we bring to her. One of the most ancient prayers to Our Lady is known to many Catholics under the Latin title, Sub Tuum Praesidium.
We fly to thy protection,
O holy Mother of God.
Despise not our petitions in our necessities,
but deliver us always from all dangers,
O glorious and blessed Virgin.Of course, visiting this shine in honour of Our Lady, we can turn to her prayer, the Rosary.
In this special time of pilgrimage, we seek the graces of God upon ourselves, our families and upon the Church here in Tasmania.

Holy Year Pilgrim’s Prayer
Father in heaven,
may the faith you have given us
in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother,
and the flame of charity enkindled
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,
reawaken in us the blessed hope
for the coming of your Kingdom.
May your grace transform us
into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.
May those seeds transform from within both
humanity and the whole cosmos
in the sure expectation
of a new heaven and a new earth,
when, with the powers of Evil vanquished,
your glory will shine eternally.
May the grace of the Jubilee
reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope,
a yearning for the treasures of heaven.
May that same grace spread
the joy and peace of our Redeemer
throughout the earth.
To you our God, eternally blessed,
be glory and praise for ever.
Amen