News & Events

Jubilee 2025 

2025 is a year of Jubilee for the Catholic Church, celebrated every 25 years, also known as a “Holy Year,” since it is a time in which God's holiness transforms us.

It is celebrated in Rome from December 24, 2024, vigil of the Lord’s Nativity, to January 6, 2026, Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord.

In local dioceses and in our Apostolic Vicariate, it begins on Holy Family Sunday, December 29, 2024. and conclude on Holy Family Sunday, December 28, 2025. 

Opening ceremony for our vicariate : Saturday, 28th of December, in St Joseph's Cathedral parish, Abu Dhabi.

Originally, the Holy Year consisted of a pilgrimage to the Roman Basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul, later other signs were added, such as the Holy Door. By participating in the Holy Year, one is granted a plenary indulgence.

The jubilee calls for us to set out on a journey and to cross boundaries. When we travel, we do not only change place physically, but we also change ourselves. Hence, it is important to prepare ourselves well, to plan the route, and learn about the destination. To prepare for the Jubilee 2025, pope Francis asked that 2024 would be a Year of Prayer. 

Pope Francis introduces the Jubilee: “The Jubilee has always been an event of great spiritual, ecclesial, and social significance in the life of the Church. Ever since 1300, when Boniface VIII instituted the first Holy Year – initially celebrated every hundred years, then, following its biblical precedent, every fifty years, and finally every twenty-five years – God’s holy and faithful people has experienced this celebration as a special gift of grace, characterized by the forgiveness of sins and in particular by the indulgence, which is a full expression of the mercy of God. The faithful, frequently at the conclusion of a lengthy pilgrimage, draw from the spiritual treasury of the Church by passing through the Holy Door and venerating the relics of the Apostles Peter and Paul preserved in Roman basilicas. Down the centuries, millions upon millions of pilgrims have journeyed to these sacred places, bearing living witness to the faith professed in every age.”