The Holy Father, Pope Francis, has proclaimed that 2025 will be a Holy Year of Jubilee, an event that takes place every 25 years. The theme of the 2025 Holy Year of Jubilee is “Pilgrims of Hope.”

It begins in Rome and in our local churches (diocese) on Sunday, December 24, 2024, and will conclude in local dioceses the following Holy Family Sunday on Dec. 28, 2025, and in Rome on the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, Jan. 6, 2026, with the closing of the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica.

Yes. According to Pope Francis, pilgrimage is a fundamental element of every Jubilee event, as setting out on a journey is commonly associated with searching for meaning in our lives. People can visit the Holy Doors in Rome and Assisi designated by Pope Francis.  The undertaking of a pilgrimage will allow participants to experience the Holy Year of Jubilee on a much deeper, p[meaningful level.

Bishop Michael Mulvey will celebrate the Opening Mass for the Holy Year of Jubilee at the 5:00pm Christmas Eve Vigil Mass at Corpus Christi Cathedral. Since not everyone can go on a pilgrimage to Rome or the Holy Land, Bishop Mulvey has chosen six jubilee churches (one from each deanery) as Jubilee Pilgrimage Churches for the Holy Year in the Diocese of Corpus Christi. (Deaneries include Alice, Beeville, Kingsville, Refugio, Corpus Christi North, and Corpus Christi South). Those Jubilee Churches will function as Holy Sites for our diocese and can be visited as a destination for pilgrimages.

Six Holy Sites have been designated as Jubilee Churches for the Holy Year in our diocese. These are the Holy Sites:

• Corpus Christi Cathedral
• Our Lady of Guadalupe, Corpus Christi
• Our Lady of Guadalupe, Alice
• Our Lady of Guadalupe, Sarita
• Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission, Pawnee
• Schoenstatt Shrine Lamar, Rockport

The need for conversion and reconciliation is central to every pilgrimage. All deaneries are encouraged to facilitate penitential celebrations in local Jubilee Pilgrimage Churches which offer opportunities for confessions.

The Jubilee Indulgence is one of the “special signs” of the Jubilee Year, known as “a priceless gift of divine mercy” and “a Jubilee grace.” During the Holy Year, Bishop Mulvey will visit each of the Pilgrimage Jubilee Churches to preside at a sacred liturgical celebration or devotion, and, at that occasion, “impart the Papal Blessing with the ascribed plenary indulgence, obtainable by all the faithful who receive this Blessing under the usual conditions.”

A plenary indulgence is the remission of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, offered by the Church through the merits of Jesus Christ. The faithful Christian can gain these indulgences under certain conditions through the action of the Church, which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1471

• Visit a Holy Site for the Jubilee Year designated by the Holy Father or the Local Ordinary within his diocese. When you go to a Holy Site, you do not have to stay for Mass.
  
  
• Have the interior disposition of complete detachment from sin, even venial sin.
  
  
• Have sacramentally confessed your sins 20 days before or after receiving the indulgence.
  
  
• Receive the Holy Eucharist within 7 days after visiting a Holy Site.
  
  
• Pray for the intentions of the pope. Recite the Apostles Creed and offer one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be.

Plenary indulgences obtained during the Jubilee Year can also be applied to souls in purgatory with the possibility of obtaining two plenary indulgences for the deceased in one day, according to the Apostolic Penitentiary.

Yes. Pilgrims can visit any given Holy Site on more than one occasion during the Jubilee Year and receive a plenary indulgence with each visit as long as all other requirements for the indulgence are met. See "How do I obtain a plenary indulgence?"

A pilgrimage allows us to escape from our routine and daily life. The sacrifice that we make—taking on a journey and spending some time with the Lord—allows us to grow in faith and in our relationship with the Eucharist.