(Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory, in a decree issued on Dec. 12, 2024, named Jubilee Churches for sacred pilgrimages during the Jubilee Year within The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, starting from Dec. 29, 2024 to Dec. 28, 2025. The Jubilee Churches named in the cardinal’s decree include the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C.; eight parish churches in Washington and the five surrounding Maryland counties that are within the archdiocese; and the University of Maryland Catholic Student Center in College Park. In a subsequent decree on Dec. 17, 2024, Cardinal Gregory also designated the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C., as a place of pilgrimage in the Jubilee Year. Earlier, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., was designated as a special place of pilgrimage for Jubilee Year 2025 by the Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Cardinal Gregory will celebrate a Jubilee Opening Mass at 11 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2025, the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle. The following is the text of Cardinal Gregory’s decree issued on Dec. 12 naming the Jubilee Churches within the Archdiocese of Washington.)
DECREE
Now the time has come for a new Jubilee, when once more the Holy Door will be flung open to invite everyone to an intense experience of the love of God. (Pope Francis, Spes non confundit, 6.)
In his Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025, titled Spes non confundit, “Hope does not disappoint” (cf. Romans 5:5), our Holy Father, Pope Francis, writes, “Everyone knows what it is to hope. In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring.” He continues:
Even so, uncertainty about the future may at times give rise to conflicting feelings, ranging from confident trust to apprehensiveness, from serenity to anxiety, from firm conviction to hesitation and doubt. Often, we come across people who are discouraged, pessimistic and cynical about the future, as if nothing could possibly bring them happiness. For all of us, may the Jubilee be an opportunity to be renewed in hope. God’s word helps us find reasons for that hope. (Spes non confundit, 1.)
Having read and prayerfully reflected on the Holy Father’s Bull of Indiction, and in particular considering what is established in n. 5, that “the pilgrimage expresses a fundamental element of every Jubilee event,” and that “in the coming year the pilgrims of hope will not fail to travel ancient and modern routes to live intensely the Jubilee experience;” and considering that the same Bull, in addition to indicating the Holy Doors and the Jubilee Churches in Rome and in other places in the world, indicates the importance of specifying at the local level other places of welcome in which to generate hope; and having consulted the Norms on the granting of indulgences during the Jubilee issued by the Apostolic Penitentiary, which, among the places for sacred pilgrimages, identifies, in ecclesiastical districts other than Rome and the Holy Land, the “cathedral church or other churches and sacred places designated by the ordinary;”
Therefore, with this decree, I establish that for the entire duration of the Holy Year, starting from December 29, 2024, to December 28, 2025, the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle and the following churches are to be considered Jubilee Churches for sacred pilgrimages within the Archdiocese of Washington:
Holy Comforter-Saint Cyprian Catholic Church, Washington D.C.
Shrine of Saint Jude the Apostle, Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland
Saint John Neumann Catholic Church Gaithersburg, Montgomery County, Maryland
Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Bowie, Prince George’s County, Maryland
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Catholic Church, Riverdale, Prince George’s County, Maryland
Saint Anthony Catholic Church, North Beach, Calvert County, Maryland
Sacred Heart Catholic Church, La Plata, Charles County, Maryland
Saint Aloysius Catholic Church, Leonardtown, St. Mary’s County, Maryland
University of Maryland Catholic Student Center, College Park, Prince George’s County, Maryland.
As established by the Norms of the Apostolic Penitentiary, the places for pious visits in which to acquire the Jubilee Indulgence in every diocese are “any minor basilica, cathedral church, co-cathedral church, Marian shrine, as well as, for the benefit of the faithful, any notable collegiate church or shrine designated by each diocesan bishop.” The same indulgence is granted, under the same conditions, to those who for serious reasons cannot participate in the solemn celebrations, pilgrimages, and visits (for example, cloistered nuns and monks, the elderly, the infirm, prisoners, as well as those who, in hospitals or other places of care, provide continuous care for the sick, etc.).
The Jubilee Indulgence may also be acquired with the works of mercy and penance indicated by the Norms: participation in popular missions, spiritual exercises or training meetings on the texts of the Second Vatican Council and the Catechism of the Catholic Church; corporal and spiritual works of mercy; visits for an appropriate time to brothers and sisters who are in need or difficulty (the sick, prisoners, elderly people in solitude, the disabled, etc.); works of penance (particularly on Fridays); and works of a religious or social nature.
To facilitate access to the sacrament of penance, I invite all parishes, national and local shrines, and religious houses (if the latter so wish) to establish times and methods for a broad access to sacramental confession on the part of the faithful.
Given at the Archdiocese of Washington on the 12th day of December 2024, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Wilton Cardinal Gregory
Archbishop of Washington
