My dear brothers and
sisters in Christ Jesus:
On May 9, 2024, the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, His Holiness, Pope Francis promulgated what is called a Bull of Indiction, a document written in Latin that bears the seal of the Holy Father and is used for the most formal or solemn occasions. The present bull, entitled SPES NON CONFUNDIT, “Hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5), announces the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025, which will begin in Rome on the vigil of the Solemnity of the Lord’s Nativity, Christmas, December 24, 2024, and in the dioceses throughout the world on December 29, 2024, the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
In our diocese on this day we will celebrate the Solemn Mass inaugurating the Jubilee Year at the 11:15 a.m. Mass at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, to which all are invited, with parishes uniting with the Diocesan Bishop in this observance at local parishes. The Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025 will conclude in dioceses throughout the world on the Feast of the Holy Family, December 28, 2025, and in Rome on the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, January 6, 2026.
Jubilee years, proclaimed every 25 years, began in the 13th century and are momentous occasions for the church as they all refer back to the Incarnation of Jesus Christ — Christ taking on our humanity and walking among us to point us to eternal salvation and union with the Triune God. While each jubilee year has its own theme, all are related directly to Jesus Christ, the Savior of humanity, who gives us a hope the world cannot give.
Taken from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, (5:5), the theme of this Jubilee Year is built upon the virtue of hope. In his Bull of Indiction, Pope Francis wrote: “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. Even so, uncertainty about the future may at times give rise to conflicting feelings, ranging from confident trust to apprehensiveness, from serenity to anxiety, from firm conviction to hesitation and doubt. Often we come across people who are discouraged, pessimistic and cynical about the future, as if nothing could possibly bring them happiness. 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” (paragraph 1).
How very timely is this Jubilee Year, as the world becomes more anxious with so many reasons that work against the realization of hope. No person can deny that the world is and continues to grow more violent with innocent lives lost each day, each minute, to the tragedy of war. And violence does not just take place far from us; violence scars our neighborhoods, our cities and our very nation. Civility in public discourse has been thwarted, and words are weapons that give rise to disunity, public uprisings and violations against basic human rights. The gift of free speech has degenerated into the wanton disregard for the dignity of every person and a powerful vehicle for attacks. And quite sadly, the church in some instances has experienced this same disintegration of charity and unity.
On the 9th day of this month of August, we recall the 79th anniversaries of the atomic explosions over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. In the Bull of Indiction, Pope Francis speaks forcefully of the demand to work for peace if we are to have hope: “The first sign of hope should be the desire for peace in our world, which once more finds itself immersed in the tragedy of war. Heedless of the horrors of the past, humanity is confronting yet another ordeal, as many peoples are prey to brutality and violence. What does the future hold for those peoples, who have already endured so much? How is it possible that their desperate plea for help is not motivating world leaders to resolve the numerous regional conflicts in view of their possible consequences at the global level? Is it too much to dream that arms can fall silent and cease to rain down destruction and death? May the Jubilee remind us that those who are peacemakers will be called ‘children of God’ (Mt 5:9). The need for peace challenges us all, and demands that concrete steps be taken. May diplomacy be tireless in its commitment to seek, with courage and creativity, every opportunity to undertake negotiations aimed at a lasting peace” (paragraph 8).
The 2025 Jubilee Year reaches into every segment of society to reveal the person of Jesus Christ: to the young, the elderly, families, the sick and disabled, the incarcerated, those fleeing from worn-torn countries, the lonely and the forgotten, to everyone with the breath of life who is struggling and feeling so abandoned. In all these places the voice of Jesus must be heard, His loving desire to become one with us in the Sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist must be proclaimed, and the great gift of forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Confession, must be elucidated. Our hands and our hearts must reach out to the poor through charitable works, from which hope springs forth, removing at least some of the shadow of despair.
Pope Francis beautifully reminds us in the Bull of Indiction that “Hope is born of love and based on the love springing from the pierced heart of Jesus upon the cross: ‘For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life’ (Rom 5:19). That life becomes manifest in our own life of faith, which begins with Baptism, develops in openness to God’s grace and is enlivened by a hope constantly renewed and confirmed by the working of the Holy Spirit” (paragraph 3).
In a world that finds hope so elusive, there follows the reluctance to bring children into the world. One fears for their safety, questions the opportunities they will have for positive human development and success; the ability to live in a world that has replaced freedom with totalitarianism; where the few impose their demands upon the many, who fear to speak because of retribution and hostile retaliation. Yes, many see a sad inheritance for our youth.
Again, rising above these fears must be the revelation of Jesus Christ, who has come that “we may have life, and have it to its full” (Jn 10:10). In the Bull of Indiction, we read powerful words from Pope Francis about how civilization can only continue through the transmission of human life born from the mutual love of man and woman. “Looking to the future with hope also entails having enthusiasm for life and a readiness to share it. Sadly, in many situations this is lacking. A first effect of this is the loss of the desire to transmit life. A number of countries are experiencing an alarming decline in the birthrate as a result of today’s frenetic pace, fears about the future, the lack of job security and adequate social policies, and social models whose agenda is dictated by the quest for profit rather than concern for relationships. In certain quarters, the tendency ‘to blame population growth, instead of extreme and selective consumerism on the part of some, is one way of refusing to face the [real] issues’” (paragraph 9). Our Holy Father continues to emphasize the importance of a renewed and profound appreciation for life in these words: “Openness to life and responsible parenthood is the design that the Creator has implanted in the hearts and bodies of men and women, a mission that the Lord has entrusted to spouses and to their love. It is urgent that responsible legislation on the part of states be accompanied by the firm support of communities of believers and the entire civil community in all its components. For the desire of young people to give birth to new sons and daughters as a sign of the fruitfulness of their love ensures a future for every society. This is a matter of hope: it is born of hope and it generates hope” (Ibid).
Christian hope also shows itself in places where the world would not dare to look, namely in sacrificial dying. “The most convincing testimony to this hope is provided by the martyrs. Steadfast in their faith in the risen Christ, they renounced life itself here below, rather than betray their Lord. Martyrs, as confessors of the life that knows no end, are present and numerous in every age, and perhaps even more so in our own day. We need to treasure their testimony, in order to confirm our hope and allow it to bear good fruit” (Ibid., paragraph 20). The martyrs understood the true reality of life and our final destination. They did not fear death or judgment, for they knew and loved Jesus in this life so as to live with Him for all eternity. The martyrs made the words of the apostle Paul their own: “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:55).
And so, Pope Francis wrote: “We should indeed prepare ourselves consciously and soberly for the moment when our lives will be judged, but we must always do this from the standpoint of hope, the theological virtue that sustains our lives and shields them from groundless fear. The judgment of God, who is love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8.16), will surely be based on love, and in particular on all that we have done or failed to do with regard to those in need, in whose midst Christ, the Judge himself, is present (cf. Mt 25:31-46). Clearly, then, we are speaking of a judgment unlike any handed down by human, earthly tribunals … In the words of Benedict XVI: ‘At the moment of judgment we experience and we absorb the overwhelming power of his love over all the evil in the world and in ourselves. The pain of love becomes our salvation and our joy’.
“Judgment, then, concerns the salvation in which we hope and which Jesus has won for us by his death and resurrection,” the Holy Father continued. “It is meant to bring us to a definitive encounter with the Lord. The evil we have done cannot remain hidden; it needs to be purified in order to enable this definitive encounter with God’s love. Here we begin to see the need of our prayers for all those who have ended their earthly pilgrimage, our solidarity in an intercession that is effective by virtue of the communion of the saints, and the shared bond that makes us one in Christ, the firstborn of all creation. The Jubilee indulgence, thanks to the power of prayer, is intended in a particular way for those who have gone before us, so that they may obtain full mercy” (Ibid., paragraph 22).
Our National Eucharistic Revival provides the ideal segue into the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025. Many of the devotions and celebrations that have occurred and continue to take place in our parishes are the very same proposed for observing the jubilee. As more information is received and resources are provided for celebrating the Jubilee Year 2025, they will be communicated to our parishes and diocesan schools and institutions. I also encourage you to read the Bull of Indiction, which can be accessed here:www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/bulls/docu ments/20240509_spes-non-confun dit_bolla-giubileo2025.html.
“May we who have taken refuge in Him be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us. We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered” (Heb 6:18-20; cf. also Bull of Indiction, paragraph 25).
Invoking God’s blessings upon you through the intercession of Our Mother Mary and St. John Fisher, our Diocesan Patron, and St. Paul VI, Pope, who returned to the Lord on August 6, the Feast of Transfiguration, in 1978, I remain
Devotedly yours in Christ,
The Most Reverend
Salvatore R. Matano
Bishop of Rochester
