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Youths in Southern Africa Urged to Make Jubilee Year Celebrations "more memorable" through Spiritual Activities

Lesego Sikhali, Chairperson of the Youth and Young Adults Ministry at the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC). Credit: SACBC

The Chairperson of the Youth and Young Adults Ministry at the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) is calling on young people to engage actively in spiritual activities and charity work during the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year.

In his New Year message, Lesego Sikhali emphasizes that actively participating in spiritual activities and charity work will make the Feast of Saint John Bosco, the patron of youth, scheduled for January 31, “more memorable” during the Jubilee Year.

“The Feast of Saint John Bosco on January 31, 2025, is fast approaching. As you all know, this feast is very special for us young people of the Conference because we take spiritual patronage to the father of the youth, our teacher, and our spiritual father to many of the Young Catholics around the world,” Mr. Sikhail says in the message published on Wednesday, January 8.

He adds, “My message to you all is that I want us to participate more in spiritual activities and charity works to make this year's feast even more memorable. We are in the jubilee of hope, and hope is never lost.”

“I wish each of us to have courage and hope all the time. Cathedrals and shrines are opened by the Bishops for spiritual pilgrimages. Let us use these places for prayer and charity,” he says in the New Year message.

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Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica before Mass on Christmas Eve, officially launching the 2025 Jubilee Year.

Earlier, he had announced the start of a Year of Prayer on 21 January 2024 in preparation for the Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year, the second in his Pontificate after the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2015.

The Holy Father said that the 2025 Jubilee Year will be “a year dedicated to rediscovering the great value and absolute need for prayer in one’s personal life, in the life of the Church, and in the world.”

On the Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ on 9 May 2024, Pope Francis 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).

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).

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In his New Year message, the SACBC Youth and Young Adults Ministry Chairperson urges young people to remain steadfast in their hope. Quoting Pope Francis’ Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit addressed to young people and the global Church, he states, “Young people with hope and strength, who will not allow anyone to take away their hope, are needed in the world.”

Sikhail reminds the youths that Pope Francis encourages young people to focus on prayer and serve the less fortunate.

He urges the youths to live purposefully in their parishes, saying, “We must commit ourselves to living and creating impactful experiences in our parishes by disciplining, passing on, and participating in programs and activities that will greatly help the youth to know Jesus Christ and care for their well-being.”

Mr. Sikhail also highlights the need for promoting peace and coexistence within communities, saying, “Let us leave sacred places and live in peace with our neighbors to promote peaceful coexistence with hope in our lives.”

Silas Mwale Isenjia is a Kenyan journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communication from Moi University in Kenya. Silas has vast experience in the Media production industry. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.