Pope Francis will inaugurate a Jubilee Year focused on the theme, “Pilgrims of Hope,” when he opens the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome on the Vigil of Christmas. The Jubilee Year is a special year of grace in which the Church offers the faithful the possibility of obtaining a plenary indulgence. This is a means for the faithful to gain the full remission of the temporal punishment due to sacramentally forgiven sins by the merits of Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints. This Holy Door will be open until Jan. 6, 2026.

On days following the St. Peter’s Holy Door opening, the Holy Doors of three other papal basilicas in Rome – St. John Lateran, St. Paul Outside the Walls, and St. Mary Major – will open and remain so until the end of the Jubilee Year. A person on pilgrimage to one of Rome’s basilicas or to a cathedral church or any other designated church who fulfills certain spiritual conditions for indulgence can gain special grace during the Jubilee Year.

This special year provides an opportunity to be renewed in hope, not only for millions of pilgrims who are expected to travel to Rome for this Jubilee, but also for those who are unable to do so. They can celebrate it in their local churches or through pilgrimages to Marian shrines across the world. The Jubilee is also an opportunity for conversion and reconciliation with God through the sacrament of penance, obtaining indulgences through God’s mercy, renewing our faith and love through hope, and proclaiming God’s love to the many people suffering in today’s world.

For the Jubilee Year, a special logo was created that we placed in the narthex at the entrance to our church. It contains several elements that refer to Christian symbols. 

At the center of the logo, there is a cross that ends with an anchor. Next to the cross, there are four figures. The entire scene is on water. The inscription at the bottom of the logo reads: “Pilgrims of Hope.” All these elements are not accidental or simply for decorative purposes. They deliver a profound theological message. Let’s look more closely at the elements of the Jubilee Year logo.

The logo shows that we all are pilgrims sailing to the eternal kingdom, to live there forever. The cross in the logo refers to Jesus Christ and our faith and is in fact the mast of the ship. The four people in the logo are stylized as sails. It is the sail that moves a ship forward. We know that a sail can work only when it is attached to the mast because a sail without a mast is useless.  As Christians, we understand this connection clearly and try to cling to Christ in our journey, remembering the Lord’s words: “without me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5).

The people on the ship not only hold onto the cross but are also holding on to one another. This highlights the very nature of the Church: we are sailing together — not in isolation, nor alone. We support each other on our journey: we pray for each other, we help each other materially and spiritually, and we “bear one another’s burdens” (Gal 6:2). The presence of exactly four people in the logo also has a meaning. The four people symbolize the four corners of the world – meaning the entire world. This shows that Jesus’ salvation and his leading of people is not limited to a chosen group, but it is universal. It applies to all people, “from every nation, tribe, people and language” (Rev 7:9).

Finally, there is also the anchor at the bottom of the cross. From the very beginning of Christianity, the anchor was a symbol of hope. Like an iron anchor that secures a ship during a storm, Jesus Christ and faith provides safety for Christians, even during turmoil, persecution or hardship. We use this material world only temporally in our continuous pilgrimage to the house of our Father in heaven. There it is our unperishable harbor and true home.

May all these symbols open us to a real existence of God in our life and to His leading us through our life. Journeying with Jesus and his Church, we are assured that we will not go astray, not be lost, or wrecked. He assures us “not a hair on your head will be destroyed” (Lk 21:18). With Jesus and his Church, we pilgrimize in the right direction to a safe harbor, the only one, sailing full of joy and hope. 

Fr. Mark Jurzyk