Brothers and sisters in Christ,
On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis will inaugurate the opening of the Holy Year 2025, a jubilee year for the universal church with the theme “Pilgrims of Hope.” The Holy Year is an invitation to us to grow spiritually, becoming pilgrims of hope for others.
Remembering the encouragement of St. Paul that “hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5), our diocesan family will celebrate this Holy Year with activities, events and liturgies throughout the year to come. In a special way, we will be encouraging visits to eight designated churches across our diocesan community as a way to prayerfully grow in abiding hope. These churches are the Cathedral of St. Thomas More, the Basilica of St. Mary, Corpus Christi, Our Lady of Hope, St. John Bosco, St. John the Evangelist, St. Patrick and St. Paul Mission.
As followers of the Lord, we know the importance of asking for God’s grace to turn away from sin if we wish to grow in virtue. This Holy Year is a powerful reminder that God calls us not only to turn away from sin, but in a deeper way encourages us to place all our hope for lasting happiness in him.
May Our Lord Jesus bless you and fill you with his peace at Christmas and always, and may the hope he inspires be shared with all those you encounter in the new year to come.
Sincerely in Christ,
Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge
Bishop of Arlington
HOLY YEAR 2025 PLENARY INDULGENCE
On May 13, the Apostolic Penitentiary issued a decree on the plenary indulgence that may be obtained during the upcoming Holy Year by making a pilgrimage, piously visiting a sacred place, or performing a work of mercy and penance. The indulgence is subject to the usual conditions — sacramental confession, reception of holy Communion, prayer for the intentions of our Holy Father, and total detachment to all sin, including venial sin.
Read on to learn how to make this plenary indulgence, or visit the diocesan website.
Pilgrimages
An indulgence may be received by those who travel on pilgrimage to any sacred Jubilee site and participate in a Mass; a Liturgy of the Word; one of the major hours from the Liturgy of the Hours (the Office of Readings, Morning Prayer or Evening Prayer); devotional prayers such as the Way of the Cross, the Rosary, the Akathist hymn; or a penance service that ends with sacramental confession.
Additionally, an indulgence may be obtained by a pilgrimage to one of the four major papal basilicas in Rome; one of the three basilicas in the Holy Land; the diocesan cathedral, or another church or sacred place that has been designated by the local ordinary.
Location: Cathedral of St. Thomas More, Arlington
Pious visits
The indulgence may also be obtained by piously visiting a Jubilee site and participating in Eucharistic adoration and meditation for a suitable period of time, concluding with an Our Father, a Profession of Faith, and invocations to Mary.
Additionally, an indulgence may be obtained by making a pious visit to any minor basilica, cathedral or co-cathedral church, Marian shrine, or other churches or places of prayer designated by the diocesan bishop, eparch, or conference of bishops.
Those unable to take part in pilgrimages or pious visits for serious reasons, such as cloistered religious, the elderly, the sick and those who care for them, or the imprisoned, may obtain the indulgence by uniting themselves in spirit with those making pilgrimages or pious visits, reciting an Our Father, a Profession of Faith, and other prayers in harmony with the purpose of the Jubilee year, and offering up their sufferings and hardships to the Lord.
Locations:
— Cathedral of St. Thomas More, Arlington
— Basilica of St. Mary, Alexandria
— Corpus Christi, Aldie
— Our Lady of Hope, Potomac Falls
— St. John Bosco, Woodstock
— St. John the Evangelist, Warrenton
— St. Patrick, Fredericksburg
— St. Paul Mission, Hague
Works of mercy and penance
The performance of works of mercy and penance provides the most diverse opportunities to obtain the Jubilee indulgence, including participation in popular missions, spiritual exercises, formational activities on the documents of Vatican II or the Catechism of the Catholic Church, or the performance of corporal or spiritual works of mercy.
The Jubilee plenary indulgence can also be obtained through initiatives that put into practice, in a concrete and generous way, the spirit of penance:
— In particular the penitential nature of Friday can be rediscovered through abstaining at least for one day of the week from futile distractions (real but also virtual distractions, for example, the use of the media and/or social networks);
— From superfluous consumption (for example by fasting or practicing abstinence according to the general norms of the church and the indications of the bishops);
— By donating a proportionate sum of money to the poor;
— By supporting works of a religious or social nature, especially in support of the defense and protection of life in all its phases, but also by supporting the quality of life of abandoned children, young people in difficulty, the needy or lonely elderly people, or migrants from various countries; and
— It can also be obtained by dedicating a reasonable portion of one’s free time to voluntary activities that are of service to the community or to other similar forms of personal commitment.
Additionally, while a plenary indulgence may normally be obtained only once a day, during the Jubilee those faithful who carry out an act of charity on behalf of the souls in Purgatory and receive Holy Communion a second time in the context of Mass can receive a second plenary indulgence applicable only to the deceased.
Diocesan bishops, eparchs, and those equivalent to them in law are permitted to give the papal blessing with its indulgence at the main Jubilee celebration in the cathedral and Jubilee churches.
PRAYER FOR THE HOLY YEAR 2025
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.
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