I think that folks don't realize that Jubilee years have this rich rootedness in the scriptures themselves the roots of the Jubilee can be traced back to the Old Testament Book of Leviticus the Lord tells Moses that every 50th year would be the year of God's favor and sacred for the Israelites Dr John bergsma professor of Theology and vice president of mission at the St Paul Center for biblical theology explains that during this year of Jubilee debts would be erased servants would be freed and ancestral property was returned to the family to which it belonged the
whole purpose was to ensure that family identity was preserved from generation to generation despite any economic threat and also that the freedom of the people of Israel gained through the Exodus would never be lost despite God's commandment the Israelites failed to follow this law the prophets began to predict that the Messiah would come and it would ultimately have to be the Messiah who would Proclaim this Jubilee that Israel did not observe in his new book Jesus and the Jubilee Dr bergsma details how Jesus proclaimed the new Jubilee whose merciful love heals us and forgives us
and that theme of Freedom From Slavery continues throughout all of scripture Jesus is our our Jubilee and he's present in the church at all times especially through the sacraments to help us experience that Jubilee Freedom the Catholic Church began to officially celebrate Jubilee years in the year 1300 when Pope bonfice II called a jubilee in response to the crisis the medeval church was facing from plagues to Wars and political upheaval and he saw the calling of this Jubilee for the first time uh as an important moment for the church uh for Christians to come to
Rome specifically to St Peter's uh to really renew their lives uh in the faith to deepen their faith the faithful responded to the call in great numbers and the tradition was born eventually the church decided to hold the Jubilee year every 25 years in the 15th century another iconic tradition began the the opening of the Holy doors in Rome when those doors open when people are able to walk through those holy doors uh they are doing something that stands them in great tradition in the church but also is a reminder to them very personally of
a renewal of their relationship with God the 21st century has seen two jubilees so far at the turn of the Millennium St John Paul II called a jubilee year for the 2,000 year anniversary of of Christ's birth he used the Jubilee to promote reconciliation and forgiveness and in a gesture of Outreach made a series of apologies for the wrongdoings of Christians in previous centuries Pope Francis then called an extraordinary jubile in 2016 outside of the typical 25e cycle he dedicated the year to God's mercy and encouraged Catholics to return to the sacrament of confession this
extraordinary holy year is a gift of Grace going through that door means to discover the profundity of the mercy of Our Father who welcomes each one of us personally he is the one who looks for us this year's Jubilee is centered around the theme pilgrims of hope within 2025 the Vatican will hold dozens of jubilees dedicated to specific groups and people we have for example a jubilee of marching bands we have a jubilee for entrepreneurs we also to have a jubilee for families and then there's going to be uh jubilees for those who are are
handicapped or those who are are struggling with disabilities those are reminders uh that everyone can participate uh in a jubilee year and there's something to be derived from that participation in a jubilee year Dr Matthew bunson editorial director for EWTN news says the Holy Father wants to give hope to a world in desperate need of it we're in the midst of Wars of conflicts of a breakdown in the most basic forms of dialogue among cultures among people among religions uh among everyone engaged now in culture and hope is something that I think he wants to
impart to the whole of the church and to the whole of the world [Music]
