From Father Ken – Catechesis on the Jubilee 2025 #2
THE BULL OF INDICTION
On the Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord, 9 May 2024, Pope Francis released a Bull of Indiction titled Spes non Confundit (Hope does not disappoint). A Bull is an official document, generally written in Latin, bearing the seal of the Pope. The Spes non Confundit announces the Ordinary Jubilee Year of 2025. Traditionally, a jubilee year is proclaimed by the pope through a publication referred to as a Papal Bull of Indiction. Each of these Bulls is identified by its initial Latin words, which serve as its title. For example, the Bull Incarnationis Mysterium (The Mystery of the Incarnation) for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 was proclaimed by Pope John Paul II, and the Misericordiae Vultus (The Face of Mercy) for the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy (2015-2016) was proclaimed by Pope Francis.
In the life of the Church, a jubilee year is a significant moment in which she celebrates and reflects in a special way the messianic favor inaugurated by our Savior through his Incarnation and Paschal Mystery. The theme for the 2025 Jubilee Year is Pilgrims of Hope. Noting that hope is the central message of the jubilee, the pope proclaims the jubilee to be “a moment of genuine, personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, the ‘door’ (cf. Jn 10:7, 9) of our salvation, whom the Church is charged to proclaim always, everywhere, and to all as ‘our hope’ (1 Tim 1:1)” (Spes non Confundit, no. 1).
Reflecting on the meaning of hope, which dwells in the heart of each person as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring, the Bull reminds us that we are called to discover hope in the signs of the times that the Lord gives us. These signs of hope include the desire for peace in our world, which once more finds itself immersed in the tragedy of war (cf. no. 8); openness to life and responsible parenthood as a mission the Lord has entrusted to spouses and to their love (cf. no. 9); hope for those of our brothers and sisters who experience hardships of any kind, such as prisoners (cf. no. 10); attention to the sick, healthcare workers, and those in difficult situations (cf. no. 11); hope to the young, who are the very embodiment of hope (cf. no. 12); hope for the migrants who leave their homelands behind in search of a better life for themselves and their families (cf. no. 13); hope to the elderly, who frequently feel lonely and abandoned, and to grandparents, who represent the passing on of faith and wisdom to the younger generation (cf. no. 14); and hope to the billions of the poor who lack the essentials of life (cf. no. 15).
The jubilee reminds us of the age-old message of the prophets that the goods of the earth are not destined for a privileged few. In the Bull, the pope thus appeals to the rich to be generous and not avert their eyes from the faces of those in need, and to the affluent nations to acknowledge the gravity of so many of their past decisions and determine to forgive the debts of countries that will never be able to repay them (cf. no. 16). He also appeals to all Christians, East and West, to take a decisive step forward toward unity around a common date for Easter. Providentially, the dates for the celebration of Easter in 2025 coincide with the calendars of the East and West. Interestingly again, the 2025 jubilee year marks the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea, which, among other things, discussed the method for calculating the date of Easter.
The Bull of Indiction also highlights the fundamental elements of every jubilee, such as the opening and closing of the Holy Door (cf. no. 6), pilgrimages (cf. no. 5), indulgence, forgiveness, and mercy (cf. no. 23), and it provides indications on them for the 2025 jubilee year.
The Bull of Indiction for the jubilee year, Spes non Confundit (Hope does not disappoint), is an interesting piece to be read by all. The text of the Bull is available at https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/bulls/documents/20240509_spes-non-confundit_bolla-giubileo2025.html.
Fr. Kenneth Ahanonu
