More than 300 representatives of consecrated life from over 60 countries are set to meet in Rome from 1 to 4 February for a preparatory meeting ahead of the 2025 Jubilee.
Each country will be represented by a religious man, a religious woman, a member of a secular institute and a consecrated woman belonging to the Ordo Virginum . Together they will experience a new phase of the journey towards the Holy Year to share experiences of life and mission. They will then return to their own respective countries with the mandate to continue to be a sign of reconciliation between peoples.
The Jubilee for consecrated life
The Jubilee for Consecrated Life will be held in Rome on 8 -9 October 2025 on the theme: “Pilgrims of Hope, on the Path to Peace”. Consecrated men and women want to reflect on the great need for peace, the urgency of our time , to respond to Pope Francis’ appeal to create, through the Jubilee journey, a climate of hope and trust as a sign of rebirth for all humanity.
Together as in the Synod
“We wanted join together along with everyone else in the Church in a very concrete preparation across the world – because we are present throughout the globe – of the Jubilee of 2025”, Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, said in an interview with Vatican News’ Bianca Fraccalvieri.
“This meeting is the first of a series of events that bring together the five continents. It was prepared online but ‘together’,” – he explained. “The programme, everything that we will experience, will be done together. And we will try to live it like the first session of the Synod Assembly by sitting around tables, carefully listening to each other in the light of the Word of God.”
A new style
In other words, consecrated life is meeting the Synod: “It’s a new style to prepare for the Jubilee, a very important moment for the Church which brings us close to the experience of God”, remarked Cardinal Braz de Aviz, highlighting the shared desire of all consecrated people to prepare and prepare “well” for this event.
“We are living a moment of reform, of renewal of consecrated life, with many problems – it is true – but also many changes in our following of Christ. We are and want to be a gift for the Church, we must breathe and live with the Church, and therefore we want to start immediately, then we will have other in-depth meetings”, he added.
The programme
The programme of the meeting in Rome will focus on four major themes: Believing in Hope (1 February); Growing in Charity (2 February); With the Strength of Faith (3 February); Witnessing Hope (4 February).
Representatives of the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia will also attend, including Father Paulin Batairwa Kubuya, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, and Sister Alessandra Smerilli, Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
Walking together
“At this moment the entire journey the Church is undertaking and that Pope Francis is carrying forward is a path to which we must convert, that is, a new style of walking together, with the conviction that this is the way of being the Church”, remarked the Cardinal Prefect. “All of us together form the reality of the Church, whatever are our respective vocations”.
According to Cardinal Braz de Aviz , this style “can be learned”. And we must learn it “at a time when an overly individualistic spirituality is emerging.” “We need this, today’s signs are signs of communication, of being together,” stated the Cardinal Prefect.
“Even here in the Dicastery, after the first session of the Synod, we immediately began to share things between us coordinators and all the some 40 people who work there,” he explained. “We are working with the idea that ‘you are part of the other, you decide with the other, you walk with the other’. This, in my opinion, will bear much fruit in the future.”
World Day of Consecrated Life on 2 February
The event in Rome also takes place as the Church celebrates the World Day of Consecrated Life on 2 February. As per custom, that day Pope Francis will preside over the celebration in St. Peter’s Basilica.
“We are very happy said Cardinal Braz de Aviz because the Holy Father has confirmed that he will come to celebrate with us. We will be together to carry out the preparation for the Jubilee, according to the values that the Pope himself has identified for us , that is to be ‘pilgrims of hope’ at a time when life is marred by wars and diseases”.
The Dicastery hopes that “the virtue of hope that a Christian has in his heart may emerge from the current difficulties. “There is also the desire to prepare for the Holy Year with the aspiration to peace in our communities and in the entire world,” the cardinal Cardinal Prefect concluded.
The Vatican News
