About the Holy Year in Rome

José Luis Alonso Ponga

PROMULGATION AND PERIODICITY OF HOLY YEARS

On Ascension Day 2024, in the early afternoon, Pope Francis, in a wheelchair pushed by a Swiss Guard, assisted by the master of ceremonies Mons. Marc Djetaba, traveled along one of the side aisles to the porch of St. Peter’s Basilica, where the rite of the indiction, or public proclamation of the Holy Year 2025, would take place. This continued the tradition institutionalized by Gregory XIII when he convened the Jubilee of 1575—a religious jubilee, but with a simultaneously political purpose. Gregory XIII’s jubilee attracted a number of pilgrims like never before. Many wanted to show the Pope the support of Catholics for the Counter-Reformation, which labeled Protestants as heretics outside the Church.

The first Holy Year was convened in 1300 by the will of Pope Boniface VIII through the Bull Antiquorum fida habet relatio (“There exists an ancient tradition…”). In it, he granted a plenary indulgence to those who made a pilgrimage to the Roman basilicas of the apostles Peter and Paul. This was a novelty that clashed with the mentality of the time. Until then, plenary indulgences had been granted only to those risking their lives in the Crusades or helping defend the holy places. Granting it to all the people merely for making a pilgrimage seemed to diminish its value.

In truth, there was a small precedent that the Pope did not even take into account. His predecessor, Celestine V, who renounced the papacy and was imprisoned by Boniface VIII in the castle of Fumone, where he died under highly suspicious circumstances, had issued a so-called “Bull of Forgiveness” for a single occasion and that year only. It established that anyone who visited the church of Santa Maria di Collemaggio in L’Aquila on August 29 and 30 could obtain a plenary indulgence with the remission of all sins, provided they followed the required norms. Boniface VIII wanted something new and different, but lacking precedent or a foundation for his idea, he had to find a way to legitimize it. He vaguely referred to the existence of an “ancient tradition” recounting a “hundred-year pardon” in earlier times. Legend spread that the Pope had received this tradition from a 108-year-old man who claimed to have accompanied his father to the ceremony in which Pope Innocent III granted the so-called “indulgence of a hundred years.” The witness said it all happened on January 1, 1200, when he was seven years old. Supporting this “invention,” other legends claimed that the French long believed that by visiting the tombs of the Apostles and venerating their relics, one could obtain forgiveness for all sins. Thus was born the tradition inherited by today’s Holy Year.

Boniface VIII thought a Holy Year should be convened every hundred years, following the ancient custom, but the second Jubilee took place in 1350, and unsurprisingly it had a supernatural origin. Clement VI repeatedly dreamed that the Prince of the Apostles appeared to him, saying: “Open the door (of the Church) and send forth the fire that may warm and illuminate the world.” To interpret the message, he gathered the cardinals and priests in Avignon and, together, they decided the mission was clear: God wanted a new Holy Year. We do not doubt the authenticity of the papal dream, although it is most likely, once again, a legitimizing legend for the new proclamation. On the other hand, we do know that the Romans sent an embassy to the Pope, emphasizing the need for a new Holy Year because the city was in complete and unstoppable decline since the papacy had moved to Avignon. The Pope granted it but excused his absence, fearing that if he returned to Rome—even just to open the Holy Door—the Roman people would organize riots, forcing him to reside again in the Eternal City. Later, Urban VI wished the Jubilee to be held every thirty-three years, in memory of Christ’s age, convening one for 1390, celebrated by his successor Boniface IX, although the Pope did not attend because the papacy remained in Avignon.

The tradition of holding a Holy Year every quarter of a century began with Paul II, who, in a 1470 bull, established four Holy Years each century, ending in 00, 25, 50, and 75. This rule has been followed ever since, with occasional interruptions caused by wars and political unrest.

The new periodicity was justified with a biblical argument of limited consistency: it is said that the holy pontiffs reduced the inter-jubilee time because human life was becoming shorter, and they wished all the faithful could enjoy such a privilege at least once in their lifetime. Certainly, the biblical reference is striking: before the Flood, humans lived 800–900 years, which gradually decreased after the Flood; by King David’s time, because of human sins, lifespan drastically contracted. Hence, the sacred text (Psalm 90:10) states: “The days of our years shall be seventy, and if they reach eighty, all that exceeds is labor and sorrow.”

In the first Jubilee, visiting the two major basilicas, the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul, was obligatory. In the second, St. John Lateran was added. Boniface IX, during the 1390 celebration, included St. Mary Major, and later St. Lawrence Outside the Walls was also added.

With the influx of pilgrims, an entire network of scams developed to deceive the unsuspecting and exploit the gullible. The Vatican intervened to protect the pilgrims, apparently effectively. A responsible cardinal was appointed to maintain order, ensuring that groups of tourist-devotees did not disturb the neighbors, especially at night, and to prevent street disturbances. He also inspected accommodation quality, capped inn prices, and regulated essential goods. They effectively protected consumers from merchants who charged excessive prices or shortchanged them. There is abundant documentation on this, for example during the Jubilee of 1650: on Monday, February 14, officials weighed bread at ovens and bakeries because it was suspected that bakers did not provide the proper eight ounces per loaf. A few days later, on Saturday, February 19, they checked butchers to ensure the weight of meat was accurate and the pieces were as described.

HOLY YEAR PILGRIMS

A pilgrim is a person who travels out of devotion to a sacred place of their religion. They were called this because they traveled per agro, through the countryside, not via the official paved state roads. Originally, the word pilgrim meant foreigner, someone outside their homeland. In the Middle Ages, it was fully understood that human life on earth is a pilgrimage, as reflected in the Latin distich “Peregrinos sumus, Domine, super terram” (“Lord, we are pilgrims on the earth”), which Jorge Manrique later expressed in verse:

“This life is the path
to the other that is a dwelling without sorrow,
but one must have good sense
to walk this journey without error.”

The journey, which the poet equates with a full lifetime, was what a traveler covered in a day.

Being a foreigner obliged relatives and friends to help the pilgrim. The religions of the Book (Jewish, Christian, and Muslim) treat this as a divine mandate. Deuteronomy 10:19 states: “You shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” This philosophy passed into Christianity and was reinforced by Christ’s promise to save those who practice charity: “for I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Matthew 25:35).

The great Italian poet Dante Alighieri, writing when Christian pilgrimages were at their height, considered pilgrims par excellence those traveling to Santiago de Compostela—later called concheros due to the scallop shell symbol of the Apostle—while those going to Jerusalem were called palmeros, and those visiting Roman basilicas were romeros. The Santiago shell became a universal symbol of pilgrimage; even saints who never went to Compostela are represented with this emblem.

In times of road insecurity, like the Middle Ages, pilgrims and walkers were easy prey for bandits. They traveled in groups and displayed identifying symbols of their destination on hats or capes: shells for Santiago pilgrims, palms for those visiting the Holy Land, or images of Apostles Peter and Paul or the Veronica for Roman pilgrims.

Pilgrimages to Rome led to the so-called visits ad limina. Limina referred in Latin to the empire’s borders, and also to the upper and lower parts of doors, especially those of major basilicas. The jambs often had a cross engraved that the faithful touched before crossing themselves. Paleochristian basilicas of the 4th century kept martyrs’ remains in the crypt beneath the presbytery. Pilgrims prayed at the door, performing devotional rites. This place became known as limina, and pilgrims traveled ad limina apostolorum (to the thresholds of the apostles’ tombs) to venerate their relics.

Roman pilgrims returned home with scapulars and pazienze (strips of cloth recalling the Veronica’s veil). Often, these were pieces of their own clothing passed through the tombs of martyrs or apostles. Some astute pilgrims turned these relics into a business, spreading miraculous objects across countries.

Common attire included a protective cape (also used as bedding), a tunic, leggings, sandals or leather shoes (sometimes walking barefoot), and a broad-brimmed hat shielding from sun and rain.

Monasteries, parishes, and private individuals supported pilgrims, maintaining inns and hospitals. Brotherhoods and confraternities, especially in Rome, included this duty in their statutes. Military orders protected pilgrims, initially to Jerusalem and Compostela, later extending to other major shrines.

Not all faithful could make pilgrimages: poor vassals, the sick, prisoners, or cloistered nuns were unable to visit apostolic basilicas, creating inequality in receiving the plenary indulgence. In part, Pope Innocent X addressed this on July 16, 1650, extending the indulgence to nuns, anchorites, hermits, prisoners, and the sick, providing local chapels or spaces within their residences.

In the 2025 Jubilee, called “of Hope,” pilgrims mix with tourists, giving rise to pilgrim-tourists. Both can coexist, according to media, especially Catholic media. Tourists find in Rome intangible cultural heritage unseen in normal years. A true exploration of the Caput Mundi goes beyond hurried visits to religious or secular monuments.

In my fieldwork in Rome this year, I met old Romans who claim they can distinguish tourists from pilgrims at first sight. They say pilgrims internalize the religious purpose calmly, without fuss, while tourists consume culture, art, gastronomy, even religion and indulgences, superficially “experiencing” all the “delights” marketed to them, under the strict timetable of travel agencies. In consumerist tourism, what matters is proving “one has been there.”

JUBILEE AND HOLY YEAR: ORIGIN AND MEANING

The Christian Jubilee has roots in the Jewish Sabbatical year, and also evokes the Hebrew Jubilee. Israel celebrated the Jubilee every fifty years, the Sabbatical every seven. Deuteronomy 15:1-18 details: every seven years, debts must be forgiven; foreigners pay debts, brothers do not; Hebrew slaves serve six years, freed in the seventh, receiving means to restart life. This ensured social cohesion and mitigated internal revolt, a cause of historical destruction of kingdoms and empires.

The Jubilee in Leviticus 25: “Multiply seven times seven years—forty-nine—and the fiftieth shall be the year of liberation. On the tenth day of the month of Etanim, the day of forgiveness, blow the trumpet throughout the land and proclaim freedom for all. Lost property is restored, slaves return to families.”

Earlier empires practiced similar mercy—remission of debts, liberation of slaves, restitution of lands—as in Mesopotamian edicts of the third millennium BCE.

The word “Jubilee” likely derives from yobel, the ram’s horn announcing the Jubilee. Jewish Jubilee ceased after the Babylonian captivity but reemerged in Christian form, emphasizing spiritual over social values.

Conceptual construction of the Holy Year:

The Catholic Holy Year combines multiple symbolic elements: indulgences, reinforcement of Church universality, a sense of fraternal union through charity, and respect for distant others.

Romans believe the Holy Year began as a popular movement, rooted in faith and seeking divine forgiveness, yet also generating economic benefits. The first was officially proclaimed by the Pope in February under popular pressure. The crowds visiting St. Peter to gain the “hundred-year indulgence” compelled the Pope to legitimize it.

The choice of Rome as the site of the Jubilee required justification. Vatican scholars argued theologically for its privilege: Rome, beloved by Christ, received relics from Jerusalem after the Muslim conquest. Since the fall of the Holy Places and expulsion of Christians in the Middle Ages, Rome declared itself the New Jerusalem, consolidating its centrality in Christendom. Claims spread that the Cross and passion relics vanquished paganism, making the Tiber city the visible head of the Church.

From the first Jubilee, legends abounded about miracles at ad limina visits: the sick were cured, the possessed freed, demons expelled by apostolic power, and names of souls liberated from purgatory announced. These “pious fakes” predated the term “Fake News.”

Romans quickly realized the Jubilee’s economic significance, giving rise to speculation. Critics noted that, in the Holy Year, instead of “crimina laxantur” (serious sins forgiven), it became “crimina taxantur” (serious sins priced, at a good rate).

Visitor numbers in Rome and its basilicas in this year, even without official figures, are already considered incalculable.

Chair of Studies on Tradition, University of Valladolid