The theme of this Jubilee is Pilgrims of Hope. For CAFOD as an agency of the Church, hope is one of our core values.
December 24 this year will be more than simply Christmas Eve. It will mark the beginning of the Church’s Jubilee year. Throughout 2025, and until January 6, 2026, Catholics will be urged to reflect, to seek reconciliation with their fellow human beings, and with God.
The theme of this Jubilee is Pilgrims of Hope. For CAFOD as an agency of the Church, hope is one of our core values. Our hope is based on scripture and God’s promise, but also on the daily living out and witnessing to hope by our partners, and the communities they serve, in the midst of conflict, oppression, injustice and environmental degradation.
Many might associate the word “jubilee” with our late Queen, who reigned longer than any of her predecessors, but in the Old Testament, it meant a radical reset every 50th year. Land and property which had been sold was returned to the original owner or their descendants, debts were cancelled, and enslaved people and prisoners were freed. As a year of restoration, freedom and celebration it was the most sweeping system of social reform in the pre-Christian era.
Today jubilees generally happen every 25 years. You might remember the last ‘ordinary’ Jubilee, at the turn of the millennium, when many thousands of people campaigned and acted for debt relief. This secured more than $130 billion of debt cancellation for developing countries between 2000 and 2015 – money they could spend on health and education instead of paying crippling interest bills.
Today, CAFOD is working with Debt Justice (what the Jubilee Debt campaign became) and others, because about 3.3 billion people live in countries where debt-related payments are greater than their expenditure on health or education. This debt burden also leaves countries less able to cope with the increasing effects of the climate crisis. The difference between the situation now and in 2000 is that most developing-country debt is owed to private banks rather than other governments or multinational institutions. If we can use our influence to get these lenders to ease the burden on developing countries, it would give hope to millions of people.
Over the last hundred years we’ve seen amazing strides forward in our struggles against poverty but the last couple of years since Covid-19, have seen more people in poverty around the world, more people displaced from their homes, more people affected by war. The impact of continued debt, the ongoing effects of the pandemic and, of course, the increased threats to the climate, can add to a feeling of hopelessness.
Yet there is always reason to hope. A couple of years ago I visited Marsabit in Kenya, which was suffering from the worst drought for many years. Thousands of livestock had died, and pastoralists had been forced to travel for miles to find food for their animals, which meant that only women and children remained in communities.
We were supporting Caritas Marsabit in emergency food distribution. I went with their resilience officer, Bante, to see a huge water collection site. He had worked with this particular community to fix it up – clearing channels, fixing the cracks with concrete, mending the iron bars to stop animals and children falling in. There was no sign of rain, though, and there was laughter because some people in the community felt it was all a waste of time.
For another few months it seemed those people were right. Then the rains came, and the facility was filled to the top. While in most places the land had been baked so dry that the water ran off, and created flooding, this community had the water they needed to recover.
Our supporters and volunteers within the Catholic community here in England and Wales give us huge hope too. They show the same steadfastness in supporting us, raising money, raising awareness, taking campaign action, baking cakes, doing walks – and, of course, praying for our work.
This Jubilee year is an opportunity for people to recommit to standing together with our brothers and sisters around the world. Perhaps we can even engender a pandemic of hope! I think that the Church, can provide a moment to take a step back and think about the sort of changes we can make, so that all have a fair share in our common home. Our schools have some fantastic plans for doing this.
A better world needs all of us, and there are some very simple things we can do:
- Make a regular gift to CAFOD in solidarity with people who are doing all they can to overcome poverty and injustice.
- Work together to ensure those in power take action on cancelling unfair debt: there is a lot of energy and momentum around this for next year, and I am hopeful that we will see change.
- Recognise and reflect on the signs of hope in the world around us. Pray for a world transformed and use our reflection guide to explore the meaning of the Jubilee Year.
- Volunteer with us during the Jubilee Year.
Pope Francis tells us that in 2025, we must look towards the next 25 years, “marked by the hope that does not fade, our hope in God. May it help us to recover the confident trust that we require … in our task of promoting the dignity of all persons and respect for God’s gift of creation.” Spes non Confundit, 25.
Francis reminds us of the scriptural basis. In the gospel of Luke, Jesus outlines his own mission to bring Jubilee – to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour. This means good news to those who are poor, freedom from oppression, the restoring of sight.
In this scripture we can see what God’s kingdom of justice, compassion and freedom looks like. We are called to join him in that Jubilee and play our part in making that good news a reality. For we know what good news means today. It means enough food, the opportunity to thrive, the chance for peace. It means a fairer, better world.
I hope, I believe that this is possible.
Join us for our online introduction to the Jubilee Year, A Year of Hope, on Saturday 18 Jan 10:30-midday. To sign up and for more information and resources see cafod.org.uk/jubilee
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