Leo XIV closes a year of hope for the Church

In a jubilee year, everything begins and ends with doors. The holy door of Saint Peter’s Basilica of course, but also those of many other Roman sanctuaries and throughout the world which remained open throughout 2025 to accompany the approach of pilgrims who came to renew their faith and their hope. There are also all these more interior doors that pilgrimages and visits have opened in hearts.

A Jubilee initiated by Pope Francis

Pope Francis understood this well by launching this collective approach, which was also intended to be a response to the global pandemic: an unprecedented time, having severely undermined our ability to project ourselves, individually and collectively, into the future. “The next Jubilee will be able to greatly promote the rebuilding of a climate of hope and confidence, as a sign of a renewed renaissance of which we all feel the urgency,” underlined the late pope.

He continued: “This is why I chose as a theme Pilgrims of hope. All this, however, will be possible if we are able to rediscover the sense of universal fraternity, if we do not turn a blind eye to the drama of growing poverty which prevents millions of men, women, young people and children from living in a manner worthy of man. I am thinking in particular of the many refugees forced to abandon their land.”

Significant events

At the end of this jubilee year, what remains of these calls? First of all, the observation that between Christmas 2024, the date of the opening of the jubilee and Epiphany 2026, the date of its closing, this period was rich in events, visits and meetings. Enough to spark many conversions and interior changes.

It is the handover between the South American Pope Francis, aged and worn out by illness, and the North American Pope Leo, much younger, which will obviously mark this jubilee. To speak of hope is not naivety but the lived and witnessed experience of the death and resurrection of Christ which joins the life of every human, even that of the popes. Pope Francis understood this well: he prepared the ground for his successor through several important meetings, including the visit to Turkey and Lebanon of Pope Leo. This made it possible to breathe new life into the ecumenical approach, while the Churches agreed to meet in 2033 to celebrate together the second millennium of Christ’s Passover. But also the publication, for the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, October 4, of the apostolic exhortation Dilexit Te, with very Bergoglian accents but fully assumed by his successor.

In a more discreet way, numerous meetings and pilgrimages took place in Rome. That of communication actors, in January, allowed us to discuss the complex and necessary work of announcing, for Christians, particularly through their social commitments, the hope that gives them life. And at the end of the year, the jubilee of the prisoners, on December 14, reminded everyone that there are still doors to open so that the justice and peace announced by Christ can manifest themselves.

In his closing message, Pope Leo gathered the sheaf of fruits of this jubilee year: “It is beautiful to become pilgrims of hope. And it’s beautiful to continue to be, together! God’s faithfulness will surprise us again. If we do not reduce our churches to monuments, if our communities are homes, if we resist together the flatteries of the powerful, then we will be the generation of dawn.”

“It is beautiful to become pilgrims of hope”

In a more discreet way, numerous meetings and pilgrimages took place in Rome. That of communication actors, in January, allowed us to discuss the complex and necessary work of announcing, for Christians, particularly through their social commitments, the hope that gives them life. And at the end of the year, the jubilee of the prisoners, on December 14, reminded everyone that there are still doors to open so that the justice and peace announced by Christ can manifest themselves.

In his closing message, Pope Leo gathered the sheaf of fruits of this jubilee year: “It is beautiful to become pilgrims of hope. And it’s beautiful to continue to be, together! God’s faithfulness will surprise us again. If we do not reduce our churches to monuments, if our communities are homes, if we resist together the flatteries of the powerful, then we will be the generation of dawn.”

A whole program for the cardinals gathered in extraordinary consistory in Rome, on January 7 and 8, at the request of Pope Leo. And perhaps a real guideline from the Augustinian Pope who will now give his own rhythm to his pontificate.