Upcoming Church's 2025 Jubilee Year “favorable time for reconciliation, conversion”: Gabon’s Catholic Bishops

Months later, on the Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ on May 9, the Holy Father solemnly proclaimed the upcoming Jubilee Year 2025 at a ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica, during which he delivered the Bull of Indiction of the planned Jubilee, “Spes non confundit” (Hope does not disappoint).

In the November 15 statement, CEG members call upon Parish Priests in Angola to “treasure the Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee and make it known to the faithful through teachings.”

They urge the people of God to “live this time of grace, anchored in hope, through the principal signs of a Jubilee.”

Gabon’s Catholic Bishops also provide details about the principal signs of the yearlong Jubilee to be marked under the theme, “Pilgrims of Hope” and concluded on 6 January 2026. 

Reflecting on pilgrimages as one of the signs, the Catholic Bishops encourage “pilgrimages to the six cathedrals and other locations designated by each Ordinary.”

They describe the traditional practices of opening the holy door as “a distinctive sign of the Jubilee” and explains, “Its opening marks the official and solemn start of the Jubilee. The Holy Door reminds Christians of Christ's words: I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture.”

Gabon’s Catholic Bishops advocate for the profession of faith, saying, “During this Jubilee, which also commemorates the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, we recommend the recitation or chanting of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed.”

“Love of neighbor, which originates from God, is the sign by which we are recognized as true disciples of Christ. During this Jubilee Year, we are called to bear witness to Christ through acts of charity,” CEG members say.

The Jubilee Year provides the people of God across the globe an opportunity to participate in various planned jubilee events at the Vatican and in their respective Episcopal Sees and Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (ICLSAL).

In their November 15 statement, Gabon’s Catholic Bishops outline the calendar of events for the upcoming Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year in the country as follows:

29 December 2024: Opening of the Jubilee in all Gabonese Cathedrals during the Solemnity of the Holy Family.

1-4 May 2025: National Jubilee for Workers and Entrepreneurs in the Diocese of Port-Gentil.

30 May – 1 June 2025: National Jubilee for Families, Grandparents, and the Elderly in the Archdiocese of Libreville.

26–28 June 2025: National Jubilee for Bishops and Clergyin the Diocese of Oyem.

28 July – 3 August 2025: National Jubilee for Youth in the Apostolic Vicariate of Makokou.

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11–12 October 2025: National Jubilee for Marian Spirituality in the Diocese of Franceville.

21–23 November 2025: National Jubilee for Choirs in the Diocese of Mouila

CEG members also present several spiritual tools for the faithful, including a Jubilee prayer composed by Pope Francis, a symbolic logo to be displayed in Parishes, and a hymn available in French, which they encourage to be translated into local languages.

“Let us prepare spiritually to live this time of grace fully and embrace the opportunity to deepen our faith and our commitment to God’s mission,” CEG members implore.