A jubilee is a special year of remission of sins, debts and universal pardon. In Leviticus, a jubilee year is mentioned to occur every 50th year; during which slaves and prisoners would be freed, debts would be forgiven and the mercies of God would be particularly manifest.
In Western Christianity, the tradition dates to 1300, when Pope Boniface VIII convoked a holy year, following which ordinary jubilees have generally been celebrated every 25 or 50 years, with extraordinary jubilees in addition depending on need. Catholic jubilees, particularly in the Latin Church, generally involve a pilgrimage to a sacred site, normally the city of Rome. The Catholic Church declared an Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy for 2015–2016. The next jubilee year commenced on 24 December 2024.
In Roman Catholic tradition, a jubilee or Holy Year is a year of forgiveness of sins and also the punishment due to sin. It is a year of reconciliation between adversaries, of conversion and receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation, “…and consequently of solidarity, hope, justice, commitment to serve God with joy and in peace with our brothers and sisters”. A jubilee can be ordinary if it falls after the set period of years or extraordinary if it is proclaimed for some outstanding event.
The most distinctive feature in the ceremonial of the jubilee is the unwalling and the final walling up of the “holy door” in each of the four great basilicas which the pilgrims are required to visit. The doors are opened by the pope at the beginning of the jubilee and then sealed up again afterwards. Previously, the rite included the use of a silver hammer (for removing the concrete at the opening) and a silver trowel (for sealing it again after the jubilee). The pope would pound on the wall, which would then be set to collapse. This ritual caused injury to bystanders, so for the Great Jubilee of 2000, Pope John Paul II simplified the rite considerably, opening and closing the doors with his hands.
Traditionally, the pope himself opens and closes the doors of St. Peter’s Basilica personally, and designates a cardinal to open those of St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major, and St. Paul Outside the Walls. In the Great Jubilee, the pope chose to open all the doors personally, while designating cardinals to close all the doors except that of St. Peter’s.
Catholic parishes all over the world share a similar rite dedicating a door for the purposes of the jubilee year to accommodate its parishioners who do not intend to visit Rome for the occasion. Local parishes’ doors include the same indulgence given to the basilica doors.
However, anyone who is not in urgent need of the indulgence should avoid Rome this year. The city of Rome had the ambitious goal of carrying out a major urban renovation by the Jubilee year. A lot seems to have gone wrong, because the city is currently a series of unfinished construction sites.
