THE JUBILEE YEAR OF HOPE - 2025

Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the

kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness,

placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our

own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy

Spirit” Catechism 1817. Pope Francis said “Chris􀆟an hope

does not deceive or disappoint because it is grounded in the

certainty that nothing and no one may ever separate us

from God’s love”. Each Diocese is permi􀆩ed to establish

‘Shrine Churches’ where the faithful can go on pilgrimage,

a􀆩end Mass and receive the Sacrament of Penance, and at

the same 􀆟me gain a Plenary Indulgence under the usual

condi􀆟ons. Our Shrine Churches on the mainland are:

St. John’s Cathedral in Portsmouth, St. James’s Reading,

Sacred Heart Bournemouth and St. Edmund’s Southampton.

In the Bull of Indiction, Pope Francis explains indulgences and their importance in our spiritual lives: “We know from personal experience, every sin ‘leaves its mark.’ Sin has consequences, not only outwardly in the effects of the wrong we do, but also inwardly, inasmuch as ‘every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death, in the state called Purgatory. In our humanity, weak and attracted by evil, certain residual effects of sin remain. These are removed by the indulgence, always by the grace of Christ, who, as St Paul VI wrote, ‘is himself our “indulgence