Pope Francis officially inaugurated the Year of Prayer 2024 on January 21, specifically dedicated to prayer in preparation for the 2025 Jubilee, which will take place in Rome under the theme “Pilgrims of Hope.”

This initiative was presented yesterday morning at the Holy See Press Office by Monsignor Rino Fisichella, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, and Monsignor Graham Bell, a member of the same Dicastery's secretariat.

Monsignor Fisichella noted that this time aims to “show prayer as the master path towards holiness, leading us to live contemplation in action.”

Thus, 2024 will be, according to the Holy Father's intention, “an intense year of prayer, where hearts can open to receive the abundance of grace.”

At the same time, the Vatican authority emphasized that this preparation period should “bring forth the spiritual horizon of the jubilee event, which goes far beyond any necessary and urgent form of structural organization.”

The Archbishop specified that this time also focuses “on lifestyle, on the ethical and spiritual quality of coexistence.” Therefore, he posed the following question: “Are we working, each in our own area, to make this city a sign of hope for those who live in it and for those who visit it?”

For Monsignor Fisichella, “it is necessary to prepare for it and live it in the communities with that spirit of expectation typical of Christian hope,” while ensuring that the Year of Prayer “fully corresponds to this need.”

“It is not a year of particular initiatives,” he clarified, “but rather a privileged moment to rediscover the value of prayer, the necessity of daily prayer in Christian life; how to pray, and above all how to teach prayer today, in the era of digital culture, so that prayer is effective and fruitful.”

These coming years, which “demonstrate a deep need for spirituality,” will also show that “prayer cannot be captured in a pre-established scheme because it is the personal relationship of the believer with God Himself, within that intimate and exclusive relationship that distinguishes our faith.”

The Year of Prayer, according to the Italian prelate, “is framed in this context to favor the relationship with the Lord and offer moments of authentic spiritual rest.”

He also highlighted that “we need to learn to pray and the true Master can only be Him: Jesus, the Son of God, who with the Lord's Prayer revolutionized the world of human prayer.”

Initiatives for the Year of Prayer 

To accompany meditation and reading to better understand the value of prayer, the Vatican provides different tools for the faithful.

Firstly, the 38 catecheses of Pope Francis, delivered from May 6, 2020, to June 16, 2021. These catecheses consider various aspects of prayer and can be revisited for useful and precious suggestions.

Additionally, the Dicastery for Evangelization will publish eight volumes titled “Notes on Prayer,” available to various Episcopal Conferences as “a useful aid to deepen in prayer and also to help young people on this path.” Monsignor Fisichella also informed that during 2024, the Holy Father will conduct a “School of Prayer,” featuring meetings “with certain categories of people to pray together, including some forms of prayer.”

When asked by ACI Prensa, the Archbishop explained that these prayer meetings will depend on the commitments of Pope Francis and may include “people and families from the Diocese of Rome.”

Finally, he reiterated that the Vatican Dicastery “remains at the disposal of all the Episcopal Conferences and representatives of the Dioceses for the Jubilee, to provide further clarification and make available the material that is prepared each time.”

Works in Rome for the 2025 Jubilee

 Monsignor Rino Fisichella announced that a total of 723 people from different levels of the Holy See are working on the preparation of the Jubilee.

The work has also been divided into 21 groups and more than 200 meetings have already been held. The prelate also noted that they have 208 representatives from the Italian dioceses and 90 representatives from conferences around the world.

Finally, he recalled that on May 9, 2024, Pope Francis will make public the Jubilee bull, a document that will reveal the spirit, intentions, and expected fruits of this great event of the Catholic Church, which expects to welcome more than 30 million people to Rome over the year.

You can consult the Jubilee 2025 calendar on the official website, as well as all the documents available to the faithful for this Year of Prayer.

This article was originally published on ACI Prensa.