Jubilee Year 2025, indulgence conditions and the Roman pilgrimage tradition since 1300

Pope Francis has proclaimed 2025 a Jubilee Year. For Catholics, the notion of a Jubilee Year is tied to the opportunity of obtaining a plenary indulgence, for oneself or for the departed, by making a pilgrimage in that year. That is to say, for visiting certain churches one is granted remission of the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven in confession.

The tradition of the Jubilee was introduced by Pope Boniface VIII in 1300. Among the pilgrims who came to Rome that year were Dante, Cimabue, Giotto, and Charles, Count of Valois, with his wife Catherine.

The precise conditions for obtaining the Jubilee indulgence are determined by the Roman pontiff, and as a rule they are announced in a special papal bull. The principal conditions do not usually change: confession, communion, and a visit to the four Papal Basilicas during the Jubilee Year. Beside the main doors of Rome's major basilicas, “Holy Doors” (Santa Porta) are set up, through which pilgrims must pass. This year the Pope intends to open a Holy Door in one of the prisons, which, in his words, will allow prisoners “to look to the future with hope and a renewed sense of confidence”.

But I am reminded of a remark of Francis's from ten years ago, when he said: “If sin were the only thing that mattered, we would be the most desperate of creatures.”