Romana

Near the end of the half-year covered in this issue of Romana, the Holy Father published the Bull of Indiction for the Jubilee Year 2025. Entitled Spes non confundit, it was signed by Pope Francis in St. John Lateran on May 9.

The Jubilee door through which pilgrims will pass is a symbol of a personal encounter with Christ, the source of our salvation and our hope. The desire inspiring this convocation is that the Jubilee be for everyone an opportunity to rekindle hope.

Alongside the tragedies and sorrows currently afflicting the world, the Holy Year should also lead us to focus our attention on all the good found in today’s world, “lest we be tempted to think ourselves overwhelmed by evil and violence” (Spes non confundit). And in doing so, we Christians need to trust in the Holy Spirit, source of the light of hope.

The Jubilee is a time of conversion, of a living encounter with Christ. This disposition will be made especially clear “by approaching the sacrament of Reconciliation, the essential starting-point of any true journey of conversion.” Hence the Pope asks that in Rome and in the particular churches “special care should be taken to prepare priests and the faithful to celebrate the sacrament of Confession and to make it readily available in its individual form” (Spes non confundit).

As Pope Francis reminds us in the Bull of Convocation: “The sacrament of Reconciliation is not only a magnificent spiritual gift, but also a decisive, essential and fundamental step on our journey of faith. There, we allow the Lord to erase our sins, to heal our hearts, to raise us up, to embrace us and to reveal to us his tender and compassionate countenance. There is no better way to know God than to let him reconcile us to himself and savor his forgiveness. Let us not neglect Confession, but rediscover the beauty of this sacrament of healing and joy, the beauty of God’s forgiveness of our sins!”

The Jubilee is a time of mercy: of a hope that awakens in hearts sentiments of gratitude. And it should be expressed in a singular way towards the poor, the sick, the imprisoned and, in general, the most fragile of our brothers and sisters: “Echoing the age-old message of the prophets, the Jubilee reminds us that the goods of the earth are not destined for a privileged few, but for everyone” (Spes non confundit).

With our sights set on the forthcoming opening of the Holy Door, we open this issue of Romana with a wish that is both personal and institutional: that the months remaining until the Jubilee may be a time of conversion and mercy for the people who take part in the apostolates of Opus Dei and for all Christians. And thus that it may rekindle in broad sectors of the Church and society the hope that we find in Christ.