Destination of Holy Year pilgrimage is encounter with Jesus, says Pope

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When Catholics come to Rome for the Holy Year, their trip should have the specific goal of meeting and listening to Jesus, Pope Francis said.

With a jubilee, the destination is the Holy Door, which “represents Jesus Christ, his mystery of salvation, which allows us to enter the new life, free from the slavery of sin, free to love and serve God and our neighbor,” he said. said during a conference to young members of the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired. The pope met with the group at the Vatican on January 3.

The theme of the Holy Year 2025 is “Pilgrims of Hope,” he said, and “the word “pilgrim” makes us think of walking, that is why I wish you to always be people in motion”, who aspire to continue moving forward in life.

“But the ‘pilgrim’ is the one who not only walks, but who has a destination, and a particular destination”, which is “a holy place, which attracts him, which motivates the journey, which supports him in his fatigue”, said the pope. said.

The pope told his young guests that they must always be “on the move” and “also pilgrims, that is, eager to meet Jesus, to know him, to listen to his word.”

The word of the Lord, the pope said, gives meaning to life and “fills it with a new joy, a different joy, a joy that does not remain “outside” on the surface, but that fills the heart and warms it, a joy which is peace, it is goodness, it is tenderness.

Throughout the history of the Church, there have been many young “pilgrims of hope,” he said, that is, “young people who have encountered the Lord Jesus and walked with him”, like Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, the saints. Francis and Clare of Assisi and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux.

Jesus “is the hope of every man, of every woman and also of the world,” Pope Francis said. “Let us follow this path, and we too will become small signs of hope for those we meet. »

Copyright © 2025 Catholic News Service/American Conference of Catholic Bishops

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