A Jubilee Year in Review

The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston marked the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year 2025, themed Pilgrims of Hope, with a yearlong series of Liturgies, pilgrimages and celebrations that drew thousands of faithful to prayer and renewal.

The Jubilee opened locally Dec. 29, 2024, with Masses celebrated by Daniel Cardinal DiNardo and Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell’Oro, CRS, at the two Archdiocesan pilgrim sites — the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston and St. Mary Cathedral Basilica in Galveston, where the faithful could obtain plenary indulgences through prayer, confession and works of charity. Pope Francis inaugurated the Holy Year days earlier by opening the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, calling Catholics worldwide to “fan the flame of hope” and embrace reconciliation and mercy.

Throughout the year, local parishes and ministries celebrated the Jubilee with special devotions, Eucharistic Adoration, parish missions and pilgrimages.

At St. Justin Martyr Parish in Houston, Jubilee-themed homilies, prayers and hymns accompanied a special processional crucifix used at major Liturgies. The parish also hosted monthly Eucharistic Holy Hours focused on hope, organized pilgrimages to local sacred sites and the Czech Center Museum Houston, and joined a Vietnamese pilgrimage to Rome. Parish groups prayed for vocations during these visits, reinforcing the Jubilee’s call to renewal and mission.

On March 15, St. Bernadette Parish volunteers from southeast Houston visited the co-cathedral for Pope Francis’ Jubilee of the World of Volunteering. The pilgrimage included a guided tour, Mass, and a Q&A with Father Jeffrey Bame, rector of the co-cathedral.

 “The Jubilee Year reminds us that volunteering is not just about tasks — it’s about faith in action,” said Suzanne Staron, director of Time and Talent at St. Bernadette. The event honored volunteers’ dedication and inspired renewed commitment to service.

 Among the Catholic schools, a group of St. Ambrose students visited the cathedral basilica on Nov. 20 for a pilgrimage, combining prayer and learning in a spiritually enriching field trip.
 
Globally, the Jubilee’s theme of hope took on new meaning after the death of Pope Francis on April 21, just after delivering his final Easter blessing. In his papal bull Spes Non Confundit — “Hope Does Not Disappoint” — Pope Francis wrote that hope lives in every human heart, unaware that his own declining health would soon mark the year. 

Archbishop Rino Fisichella, who oversaw Jubilee events, said the pope’s death transformed the Jubilee’s message: “Hope became not sentiment, but promise.” 

Through the interregnum and the election of Pope Leo XIV, celebrations continued and even grew, drawing massive crowds — including a million young people for the Jubilee of Youth in August. Among them were more than 300 young adults from Galveston-Houston.

Other individual pilgrims and delegations from the Archdiocese also traveled to Rome for special Jubilee events such as the February Jubilee for Deacons, the Jubilee for Consecrated Life and the Jubilee of Synodal Teams, both in October, reflecting the Archdiocese’s commitment to global communion and mission. Many encountered Pope Leo XIV at Masses and addresses.

The year will conclude on Dec. 28 with Jubilee Closing Masses at both pilgrimage sites. Archbishop Joe S. Vásquez will preside at the Co-Cathedral, and Bishop Dell’Oro will celebrate in Galveston, urging Catholics to carry forward the Jubilee’s spirit of hope and renewal. 

“This Holy Year reminds us that hope does not disappoint,” Cardinal DiNardo said in earlier remarks, echoing Pope Francis’ call for a future rooted in faith and solidarity. 

The unfinished gesture of Pope Francis’ Holy Door opening at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican and its closing by his successor, Pope Leo XIV, on Jan. 6, 2026, when the Jubilee formally ends on the Feast of the Epiphany, now challenges believers to carry hope, peace and communion into the world. 

The Jubilee year will then leave behind a legacy of prayer, pilgrimage and service across the Archdiocese and around the world.