The Pope will announce the Bull of indiction of the Jubilee 2025

Following the tradition of the Church and coinciding with the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, next Thursday, May 9, Pope Francis will announce the Bull of Convocation of the Jubilee of 2025. Within the framework of the celebration of the Second Vespers of the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, which the Pontiff will preside over in St. Peter’s Basilica at 5:30 p.m. In the Bull of inscription, the next Jubilee will be read and published, indicating the start and end dates of the Holy Year.

The Bull of Convocation of the Jubilee

The tradition of the Church decrees that each Jubilee is proclaimed through the publication of a Papal Bull (or Pontifical Bull) of convocation. By “Bull” we mean an official document, generally written in Latin, with the seal of the Pope, the form of which gives its name to the document. At first, the seal used to be made of lead and bore the image of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul on the obverse, and the name of the Pontiff on the reverse. Later, an ink seal replaced the metal seal, but this continued to be used for more important documents.

The characteristics of a Bull

This papal document is not only characterized by indicating the start and end date of the Year of Grace, but each Pontifical Bull is identified by its initial words. For example, Saint John Paul II called for the Great Jubilee of the year 2000 with the Bull Incarnationis mysterium (“The Mystery of the Incarnation”), while Pope Francis called for the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy (2015-2016) with the Bull Misericordiae vultus (“The face of mercy”). The Bulls begin with the name of the Pope (without the numeral), followed by his dignity of Episcopus (bishop) and the title of Servus Servorum Dei (servant of the servants of God). For example, in the case of Francis: ‘Franciscus, Episcopus, Servus Servorum Dei‘.

Jubilee Logo

At the end of June 2022, the official logo of the Jubilee 2025 was presented, after the Dicastery for the Promotion of the New Evangelization organized a competition with a high participation rate: 294 proposals were received from 213 cities and 48 different countries.

The logo represents four stylized figures that indicate humanity coming from the four corners of the earth. Embracing each other, they indicate the solidarity and fraternity that unites people. The first figure is clinging to the cross. It is the sign not only of the faith that embraces, but also of the hope that can never be abandoned, because we always need it, especially in moments of greatest need.

It is useful to observe the surrounding waves that are in motion, because they show that the pilgrimage of life does not always pass through calm waters. Many times, personal experiences and world events demand with greater intensity the call to hope. This is why we must emphasize the lower part of the cross that elongates, transforming into an anchor, and that imposes itself on the movement of the waves. We will know that the anchor has been used as a metaphor for hope. In fact, the anchor of hope is the name given in marine jargon to the reserve anchor used by boats to make emergency maneuvers that stabilize the boat during storms.

Do not forget the fact that the image shows how the pilgrim’s path is not an individual event, but a communal one, with the imprint of a growing dynamism that tends more and more towards the cross. The cross is not static, but dynamic and curves towards humanity, going out to meet it and not leaving it alone, offering the certainty of presence and the security of hope.

Finally, the motto of the 2025 jubilee stands out in green: Pilgrims in Spem.