Pope Leo XIV: 2025 Jubilee Year is Time for Forgiveness and Reconciliation

/ Tom Delaney, O.F.S., M.A. Theo., Cert. Catech.

Prior to his death, Pope Francis declared 2025 to be a Jubilee Year, A Jubilee Year is an “event of great spiritual, ecclesial, and social significance in the life of the Church.” The concept of “Jubilee” has its origins in the Book of Leviticus (chapter 25) as a special year of reconciliation, pilgrimage, and coming home. Pope Francis designated the 2025 Holy Year as a time to renew ourselves as “Pilgrims of Hope.”

In his message yesterday to the Networks of Indigenous Peoples and the Network of Indian Theology Theologians, Pope Leo XIV touched upon important points of forgiveness and reconciliation with indigenous cultures and histories in mind, but which also relate to personal acts of forgiveness and reconciliation. Here are the points he touched upon:

  • The Jubilee should be for us primarily “a moment of genuine, personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, the ‘door’ of our salvation” (Francis, Bull Spes non confundit, 1), an opportunity for reconciliation, grateful remembrance and shared hope, rather than a mere external celebration.
  • The Jubilee, a precious time for forgiveness, invites us to “forgive our brothers from the heart” (cf. Matthew 18:35), to reconcile ourselves with our own history and to give thanks to God for his mercy towards us.
  • Thus, recognizing both the highlights and the wounds of our past, we understand that we can only be a [whole] People if we truly surrender ourselves to God’s power, to his action in us.

Please share this with someone who needs these words today.

This text is an original work of its author Tom Delaney and was entirely composed without the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

If your parish or faith community is seeking a deeper experience of forgiveness, healing, mercy, and spiritual renewal, Live and Forgive is here to help. To begin the conversation, email Live and Forgive presenter and facilitator Tom Delaney at tom@liveandforgive.com — he will be glad to connect with you for a conversation. Please type in your email and click “Subscribe” below to stay connected and get Live and Forgive articles delivered to you.

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