Originally published at National Catholic Register
JERUSALEM — Hope, the theme chosen by Pope Francis for Jubilee 2025, is in short supply in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza right now, but is needed more than ever, local Catholic leaders say.
While few Holy Land Christians will be able to travel to Rome for the special yearlong celebration, they will celebrate the jubilee where the Church began.
The Diocese of Jerusalem launched the Jubilee Year in the northern Israeli city of Nazareth, at the Basilica of the Annunciation, the site where the Virgin Mary learned that she would be carrying the Son of God in her womb. It opened with a celebratory but solemn Mass, on Dec. 29, 2024, in keeping with the mood in Israel, which has been at war with Hamas and other Iranian proxies for much of the past 15 months. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem and president of the Assembly of the Catholic Ordinaries in the Holy Land (AOCHL), was the principal celebrant.
In a message to the faithful, the members of the assembly urged local Christians to “live this Jubilee intensely, to take part in the pastoral and spiritual initiatives which will be proposed in their respective communities,”
