2025: a new hope

This comes a few months too late, but I think it's early enough in the year to still wish everyone another happy journey around the sun.

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Happy 2025!

As most of you know, 2025 has been declared a Jubilee year by Pope Francis. A Jubilee year, or in Italian, anno giubileo, is a 'holy year' and is quite significant in the Catholic faith. It is a year of "forgiveness of sins, debts, and universal pardon".

Every Holy Year, the Pope opens the cement-sealed Holy Doors of the Vatican, and in the other 4 main Basilicas in Rome. Crossing the threshold of the Holy Door symbolizes coming into the presence of God, and granting the forgiveness of sins. Part of Catholic tradition is pilgrimaging to Rome to cross the threshold of the Holy Door. More recently, the Pope has designated that every diocese in the world could designate a church with a Holy Door to make this pilgrimage to a Holy Door more feasible for all Catholics.

A woman stops to pray in St. John Lateran.

But, this hasn't prevented Rome from being filled to its brim with pilgrims from all over the world, especially since Holy Years are typically declared every 25 or 50 years - they're a 'rare' occurrence! Romans are a maybe a bit less excited for a Jubilee Year, especially just thinking about encountering 10x the amount of tourists in the city. And while it is annoying to be stuck in jubilee traffic (caused by road work), to have to wait for the next metro train (because they're all so full), or to fight your way up Via dei Condotti like salmon swimming upstream against a current, I find Holy Years to be beautiful in their own way.

A kind of unspoken reverence and awe filled wonder fills the air. It's actually quite beautiful. It's truly an experience to witness people from all walks of life come to walk a very small pilgrimage from Castel Sant'Angelo to the Holy Doors of the Vatican.

Each Holy Year adopts a theme. For example, in 1983, Pope John Paul II declared an extraordinary jubilee, the Holy Year of Redemption. In 2016, Pope Francis declared the Holy Year of Mercy. Typically the theme is reflective of current world current events, or reflects what the Church aims to focus on during that year. Before every Holy Year, the Pope writes a 'Papal Bull' -- a decree indicating the reasons for celebrating the Holy Year and revealing the associated theme and name.

This year's theme is: hope.

Hope is such a small word. Just four letters with such a big meaning. Hope is an optimistic state of mind, a wish for positive outcomes, a sentiment of true belief. It's a jubilee theme that Catholics, but also every other faithful or non-faithful person can relate to. Everyone has, at least one time in their life, hoped for something. It's a shared, powerful, and relatable experience that people can empathize with. It unites and brings people together.

For everyone who asks me, "Oh, Francesca I'm visiting Rome, what should I see?" I always reply with the typical list of tourist attractions and important historical landmarks: the Spanish Steps, St. Peters Basilica, Piazza Navona, the Colosseum...

And finally, I ways include The Holy Stairs.

You want to see hope personified? You should visit the Holy Stairs. For those who don't know, the Holy Stairs are the staircase that Jesus walked up to stand before Pontius Pilate, the judge who presided over Jesus' trial and ultimately sentenced him to be crucified.

You cannot walk up the Holy Stairs. Visitors who wish to climb the staircase must do so on their knees. There are prayers you can say on each step as you climb them. Since it is a holy site, there are many visitors and groups of pilgrims who flock the stairs daily. There are many reasons why people climb the Holy Stairs. They say the Stairs are climbed as a penance, to ask forgiveness for sins or wrongdoings. But, I think the Stairs can also be done simply as an act of prayer, or as an act of hope. People climb the stairs in the hopes of feeling closer to their faith, or with the intention of offering prayers for others or themselves. It gives people with faith, lots of hope. It's a beautiful thing to witness, and to partake in if you wish to.

I have done the Holy Stairs every year since living in Rome. I must confess that I do them with hope in mind. With the idea that for me, the trip to the Stairs is a pilgrimage to a Holy place. A place where my hopes and prayers are heard a little more clearly and loudly. You might say, they give me hope.

So, in this jubilee year, I hope you all take some time to hope a bit.

Hope for sunny weather.

Hope for the gelato place to be open after school.

Hope for some more time spent with friends or family

Hope for success after hard work.

Hope for happiness.

Hope for health.

Wishing you all a great rest of the year. May it be filled with hope and light.

Ciao for now, Francesca