As the Catholic Church observes the Jubilee Year under the theme Spes non confundit—“hope does not disappoint”—Vatican News reflects on its deeper spiritual and societal significance. Initiated by Pope Francis in December 2024, this sacred period calls believers to become “pilgrims of hope” amid growing global uncertainty and entrenched social inequities. With the Holy Door set to close on January 6, 2026, the remaining time is framed as an invitation to reflection, renewal, and recommitment to justice. n nRooted in ancient Hebrew tradition, the Jubilee originally occurred every fifty years and mandated land rest, debt remission, and the liberation of enslaved individuals (Lev 25:10). These practices underscore three enduring values: care for the earth, restoration of freedom, and the extension of forgiveness. The concept echoes in Isaiah’s prophecy (Isa 61:1–2), later claimed by Jesus as the fulfillment of “the year of the Lord’s favor” (Lk 4:18–19), marking a divine call to renew humanity’s relationship with creation and one another. n nIn today’s context, the Jubilee serves as a counter-cultural moment of intentional pause. The Sabbath principle—God’s rest on the seventh day—evolved into the sabbatical year (Shemittah), during which farmland lay fallow and its produce was shared with the poor, foreigners, and animals. This rhythm of cessation is not idleness but a transformative act, creating space for equity and ecological healing. n nStefano Rozzoni, writing for Vatican News, urges readers to consider their personal role in this vision: Have we brought comfort to the imprisoned, the sick, youth, migrants, elders, or the impoverished? Can we recognize the planet’s distress and respond with care? The Jubilee, he argues, is not passive; it is active rest—a deliberate break from exploitative systems to imagine a more just economy. n nPope Francis has long advocated for a moral reformation of economic structures, particularly urging younger generations to forge a “covenant” that gives a soul to tomorrow’s economy. In 2025, this message resonates strongly as environmental degradation, inequality, and social fragmentation persist. The closing of the Holy Door in early 2026 symbolizes both an end and a beginning—an urgent call to carry forward the spirit of renewal beyond the ceremonial. n nThere remains time, the reflection concludes, to embrace this moment: time for the Earth, time for liberation, time for reconciliation. n— news from Vatican News
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Restarting the Economy: (Still) time to rest
By Stefano Rozzoni n nStop. n nBreathe. n nRest. n nCan you sense the earth in distress? Can you feel the grip of those who lack freedom, the weight borne by those awaiting a gesture of forgiveness? n nNo? n nThen breathe once more before you continue reading. n n* n nIt is November, the eleventh month of the Jubilee Year inaugurated by Pope Francis under the motto Spes non confundit—“hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5)—and with the invitation to become pilgrims of hope: a powerful and necessary message, now more than ever, in an age when defeatist narratives about the future seem to dominate public discourse. n nNearly eleven months have passed since the opening of the Holy Door on 24 December 2024: a brief span of time, and yet one in which the world has witnessed many transformations, and not always for the better. Political actors change, modes of communication mutate, geopolitical situations are reconfigured, but the heart of the problems persists: inequality, exploitation, marginalisation are wounds that resist healing. n nIn light of this, one wonders: What has been my contribution, both for myself and for the world, during this Jubilee Year? What concrete gestures have I embodied? Have I truly brought peace, encouragement, and care to those who live in hardship – prisoners, the sick, young people, migrants, the elderly, the poor – as Pope Francis urged in the Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee? n nThere is still time, in any case, to provide your own contribution. n nTo hope. n nTo begin again with a different step. n nTo rest. n nAt its heart, the Jubilee is a particular form of active rest, far removed from inertia. Its roots lie in the Hebrew Jubilee, which every fifty years required the rest of the land, the restoration of property, and the liberation of slaves (Lev 25:10). Three concrete actions that reveal the three signs of the Jubilee – land, freedom, forgiveness – and their grounding in the ethic of care. A form of wisdom that has passed silently through the centuries; a memory as vital as it is easily set aside in favour of louder news. And yet, when we forget it, it is the Word that brings it back to us. n nIsaiah takes up these themes (Isa 61:1–2), and Jesus makes them his own when he declares in himself the fulfilment of “the year of the Lord’s favour” (cf. Lk 4:18–19). It is the call to live the New Covenant also as a renewed covenant with the world. n nThe Jubilee thus represents a time of renewal, countering the persistent tendency to replicate, continuously and stubbornly, exclusive and dualistic paradigms. The earth – and the Earth – continues to be exploited; marginalisation persists; ever new forms of exploitation emerge, while conditions of fragility show no sign of diminishing. n nThis is why a moment of mindful rest – shabbat, the act of “ceasing” – becomes essential to interrupt this tendency. In the Torah, the Sabbath recalls the seventh day of Creation, when God completed his work, stopped, and blessed the day, consecrating it. It is not a mere pause but a privileged moment of renewal in which to celebrate God’s presence. From it also derives the sabbatical year, the Shemittah, in which the land was left fallow and its spontaneous produce reserved for the poor, the foreigner, and the animals. Again, stopping becomes an opening to the other, a paradoxical interplay of action and non-action. n nFor without granting ourselves time for transformation, how can we imagine transforming ourselves and the world? How can habits of thought and life change if no space for breathing opens up? n nIn this sense, the Jubilee evokes the need for a sabbath of the world: a great time of suspension and care that reminds humanity of the possibility of a renewed covenant with creation. And in 2025 this renewed covenant echoes what Pope Francis has repeatedly urged, especially upon the young: the need “to enter into a ‘covenant’ to change today’s economy and to give a soul to the economy of tomorrow.” (1 May 2019). n nThe Ordinary Jubilee will conclude with the closing of the Holy Door on 6 January 2026. A symbolic deadline that calls us to assume responsibility for the time that remains. A deadline, yes, but also an invitation to recognise that there is still time for all this. n nTime for the Earth. n nTime for freedom. n nTime for forgiveness. n nAnd so, if you have not yet done so: