In announcing the Jubilee 2025, which begins on Christmas Eve, Pope Francis proclaimed hope as the central message of the year. Under the title “Hope Does Not Disappoint,” taken from the writings of Saint Paul, the papal bull is a treatise on hope. From the time of the early Church until Vatican II and into the present, the Church offers to the world tangible signs of hope. These signs also go to the very heart of mission.
Pope Francis calls on Christians to “abound in hope” by, among other examples, remembering prisoners and working for their reintegration into community; visiting the sick; and welcoming migrants, exiles and refugees in their search for a dignified state of life.
He also calls for signs of hope for youth, so that their dreams and aspirations may not become frustrated, and for the elderly, that they be esteemed for their wisdom and experience. He emphasizes in their relationship to one another a “covenant between generations.”
Our magazine coverage in the year ahead will follow the Jubilee theme of hope in each issue. It is core to what Maryknoll is all about. Signs of hope abound in our articles, made visible through the Works of Mercy. When Pope Francis references those who engage in the Jubilee as “Pilgrims of Hope,” we cannot but think of the missioners — priests, sisters, brothers and lay people — whose lives are pilgrimages of hope to the furthest ends of the earth.
Lynn F. Monahan
Editor-in-Chief
