LITURGICAL SIGNS OF HOPE IN THE BULL ANNOUNCING THE ORDINARY JUBILEE OF 2025 ‘SPES NON CONFUNDIT’

Abstract

In the bull ‘Spes non confundit’ Pope Francis, when announcing the Ordinary Jubilee of 2025, pointed to a number of signs which he called ‘events of grace’ and, in accordance with the motto of the Jubilee, ‘signs of hope testifying to God’s presence in the world.’ In describing contemporary ‘signs of hope,’ the late Popefocused on the political and the social, such as peace for the world, an ‘enthusiastic vision of life’ combined with responsible motherhood and fatherhood, the care of the sick, the young, the migrants, the elderly and the lonely, the poor and the needy. He also did not forget what is essential for all jubilees: forgiveness and pilgrimage. Among these signs, the liturgy of the Mystical Body of Christ always occupies a special place, which cannot fail to be at the centre of the Church’s jubilee celebrations, especially the celebration of the Eucharist and the administration of the sacrament of penance and reconciliation. Although the bull itself does not devote much space to it, this does not mean that in the celebration of every Christian jubilee, the liturgy is not a special space-time of grace with special signs, which results from its ontological meaning and salvific role. This article, using Franciscan terminology by analogy, presents the liturgical signs of hope proposed in the bull ‘Spes non confundit’. These are: the liturgy of the opening and closing of the Holy Door, the celebration of the sacrament of penance and reconciliation and the possibility of obtaining a plenary indulgence, and the sign of Christian unity, which could be the joint celebration of the annual memory of the Lord’s Resurrection.