Inauguration of the Jubilee Yātra

“The Jubilee Yātra, Pilgrimage of Hope, is not just a gathering; it is a transformative experience that aims to bring priests, religious, and lay faithful together on a shared path of reflection, renewal, and rekindled hope. This significant event is organized under the auspices of the Jubilee 2025 Desk of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India in collaboration with 132 Dioceses across the country,” with these words of introduction, His Excellency Most Rev. Gerald Isaac Lobo, Bishop of Udupi, inaugurated the Jubilee Yātra, a journey of the heart, on 27 October 2023, at Udupi. 

It has been planned by the National Facilitating Team of the Ordinary Jubilee 2025, headed by Rev. Prof. Dr. Yesu Karunanidhi, that 132 Dioceses of the Church in India (Latin) will be visited before the culmination of the Jubilee Celebrations in November 2025. 

 

The Jubilee Yātra is not a journey on foot, but a pilgrimage of heart; it is not a physical journey, but a spiritual voyage that seeks to connect the believers across the Country in a shared pursuit of hope. Renewal, reflection, and consciousness are the milestones of the journey.

 

The objectives of the Jubilee Yātra are: (i) To disseminate the information concerning the Ordinary Jubilee 2025 integrating it with the Synod for a Synodal Church so that more people are brought to ‘synodal-consciousness’ as our Hope Father Pope Francis puts it; (ii) To introduce the Documents of the Second Vatican Council, especially the Four Constitutions, by bringing out the key themes and making them contextual to the life-realities of the people; and (iii) To familiarise the Catholic faithful with different forms and methods of prayer. All these objectives will lead to the goal of the ordinary Jubilee 2025 that we become ‘pilgrims of hope’ in the Church and the world.

 

As many as 120 priests and religious headed by the Local Ordinary participated in the Jubilee Yātra in the Diocese of Udupi, which hosted the event in its new Pastoral Centre, Anugraha. The participants, after a brief introduction on the synod for a synodal Church and Jubilee 2025, were introduced the treasurers of the Second Vatican Council. 

 

“For the first time I heard about the Documents of the Second Vatican Council; and they are really challenging,” said Sr. Lincy, a participant. 

 

“If we had lived out the teachings of the Second Vatican Council a while ago, our Church would have become synodal already,” a priest said during the interaction.

 

The Church in India officially inaugurates the Jubilee 2025 preparations on Sunday, 26 November 2023, Solemnity of Christ the King. Jubilee 2025 logo will be unfurled, and Jubilee Prayer will be recited. Jubilee 2025 celebrations are integrated with synod on synodality and CCBI strategic planning.