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Last Sunday, Pope Francis officially opened the Year of Prayer, in preparation for the 2025 Jubilee.

During the Angelus, the Holy Father announced that this year will be “dedicated to rediscovering the great value and absolute need for prayer in personal life, in the life of the Church, and in the world.”

Already in 2022, Francis had expressed his intentions for 2024 to be devoted to a “symphony of prayer… above all else, to renew our desire to be in the presence of the Lord, to listen to him and to adore him.”

This Year of Prayer will be aided by resources provided by the Dicastery for Evangelization.

During a press conference held on January 23, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, revealed that one such resource will be an 8-volume book series, titled “Notes of Prayer,” written by authors of international renown, which is going to be made available to the various bishops’ conferences.

Archbishop Fisichella also recommended revisiting the 38 catechetical talks given by Pope Francis from May 6, 2020 to June 16, 2021.

The Holy Father will also set up a “School of Prayer,” a series of moments of encounter with specific groups of people to pray together and better understand the various forms of prayer.

The official 2025 Jubilee website also suggested the organization of “pilgrimages of prayer” at the diocesan level.

More than “particular initiatives,” though, this Year of Prayer will be “a privileged time in which to rediscover the value of prayer, the need for daily prayer in the Christian life; a time to discover how to pray, and above all how to educate the people of today in prayer, in this age of digital culture, so that prayer can be effective and fruitful,” Archbishop Fisichella said.

The 2024 Year of Prayer was instituted as a preparation for the 2025 Jubilee Year.

The 2025 Jubilee Year will start with the opening of the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica on December 24, 2024 (Christmas Eve). During a symbolic ceremony, the Pope will open the door, allowing the pilgrims to enter through it.

The Jubilee is a significant event, with pilgrimages and special indulgences. Several Jubilee itineraries within the city of Rome include visits to the Papal Basilicas, pilgrimages to the Seven Churches, visits to Roman churches linked to specific countries of the European Union (´Iter Europaeum´), and visits to selected churches to recall Patronesses of Europe and Doctors of the Church.

There will also be cultural events to enrich the Jubilee program. Those who wish to take part in the main events of the Jubilee may get a free digital pass (pilgrim´s pass) by registering at the official portal site of the 2025 Jubilee. Volunteer applications are already open for those who wish to help or assist the pilgrims.

“In order for the Jubilee to be an event that spiritually enriches the life of the Church and of the entire people of God, becoming a concrete sign of hope, it has to be prepared for and lived in individual communities with that spirit of expectation which is typical of Christian hope. The Year of Prayer fully corresponds to this need,” clarified Archbishop Fisichella.

This article was originally published at The City and the World. Please visit to subscribe and learn more about important Catholic news and issues.


Image: “General Audience with Pope Francis” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by Catholic Church (England and Wales) © Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk


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Claire is a global IT professional/writer, residing in Portugal with her husband, Pedro Gabriel.  She and her husband founded The City and the World, a journalism platform.

She wrote articles for Where Peter Is (and other sites) and provided special news coverage for Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) News Media during Pope Francis´s 2015 papal visit in the Philippines.

She was also an accredited press corps member with her husband for the press coverage of World Youth Day Lisbon 2023 and the 16th General Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (2024).

Pedro Gabriel, MD, is a Catholic layman and physician, born and residing in Portugal. He is a medical oncologist, currently employed in a Portuguese public hospital. A published writer of Catholic novels with a Tolkienite flavor, he is also a parish reader and a former catechist. He seeks to better understand the relationship of God and Man by putting the lens on the frailty of the human condition, be it physical and spiritual. He also wishes to provide a fresh perspective of current Church and World affairs from the point of view of a small western European country, highly secularized but also highly Catholic by tradition.

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