Father Gerald Murray, pastor of the Holy Family Church in New York City, told Newsmax on Friday that Jubilee 2025 — the pilgrimage to Rome — is a chance for people to leave their "ordinary life" and journey with other believers and the Holy Spirit as a means to "refocus your life."
This Jubilee, or Holy Year, begins Christmas Eve 2024 and runs through Dec. 14, 2025. Pope Francis started the countdown on Thursday.
"The Jubilee is an occasion to make a pilgrimage to Rome. It happens, as you said, four times every century," Murray said on "American Agenda." "And the pilgrimage is designed to bring people to visit the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul, and to pray for those who have died, and then to seek forgiveness for their own sins.
"So it really is a chance for the Catholic Church to tell people to return to God, to prayer, to receiving the sacraments, and to prepare, you know, for our own death because we're all — life is a pilgrimage from birth to death.
"And by going to Rome on this kind of pilgrimage, we're reminded that Jesus should be the focus and that he is the One through the Holy Spirit who accompanies us as we make this trip to the Holy City," he added.
According to the Jubilee website, "the Jubilee Year was a year that was declared holy. During this period, the Mosaic law prescribed that slaves could regain their freedom, and that land, (of which God is the sole master), should be returned to its former owners."
Once prescribed to happen every 50 years, the ordinary Jubilee now happens every 25 years. However, a Pope can declare an extraordinary Jubilee, as Pope Francis did in 2016.
"I think that's going to continue to grow. And people like the idea of going on a pilgrimage because you leave your ordinary life and go to a holy place and pray, and that really is a great way to kind of recenter and refocus your life," Murray said.
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
- Find Newsmax channel in your home via cable and satellite systems – More Info Here
- Watch Newsmax+ on your home TV app or smartphone and watch it anywhere! Try it for FREE – See More Here: NewsmaxPlus.com
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.