Official Decree | February 4, 2025

The Most Reverend David J. Bonnar, Bishop of the Diocese of Youngstown, has released the following Decree Designating Sacred Jubilee Sites for 2025:

Download PDF: Decree-Sacred Jubilee Sites 2025

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Whereas, the Holy Father FRANCIS, BISHOP OF ROME, has decreed that the Holy Door of the Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican will be opened on Tuesday, December 24, 2024, inaugurating the ORDINARY JUBILEE of the YEAR 2025 with the theme Pilgrims of Hope (Spes non confundit, 6); and

Whereas, the Holy Father FRANCIS, has further decreed that each diocesan bishop throughout the Church is to solemnly open the HOLY YEAR in the local Church with the celebration of Holy Mass in the cathedral on Sunday, December 29, 2024 (ibid.); and

Whereas, the Holy Father FRANCIS, desires to set forth the Jubilee Indulgence as a gift for “discovering the unlimited nature of God’s mercy” (Spes non confundit, 23) as a special Jubilee grace and has directed the Apostolic Penitentiary to set forth nonns for obtaining the Jubilee Indulgence; and

Whereas, within said norms it is laid out that the diocesan bishop may establish SACRED JUBILEE SITES within his jurisdiction to which the faithful can undertake a pious pilgrimage or make a pious visit, which when completed along with the usual conditions, i.e. being “moved by a spirit of charity and… [being] purified through the sacrament of penance and refreshed by Holy Communion, pray for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff” (Decree on the Granting of Indulgence During the Ordinary Jubilee Year 2025), afford for obtaining a PLENARY INDULGENCE for oneself or a soul in Purgatory;

I, therefore,

DAVID J. BONNAR

BISHOP OF YOUNGSTOWN

hereby decree

on this Thirty-First Day of January 2025

that for the period of the ORDINARY JUBILEE of the YEAR 2025

the CATHEDRAL of ST. COLUMBA

in Youngstown, Ohio

OUR LADY of MOUNT CARMEL BASILICA

in Youngstown, Ohio

BASILICA of ST JOHN THE BAPTIST

in Canton, Ohio

POOR CLARE NUNS of PERPETUAL ADORATION

in Canton, Ohio

be designated as SACRED JUBILEE SITES

wherefrom the faithful through

DIVINE GRACE

will experience the hope offered from forgiveness and

“hearts and minds open to the need to forgive others in tum” (Spes non confundit, 23).

Signed:

Most Reverend David J. Bonnar, Bishop of Youngstown

Given at Youngstown, Ohio, this 31st day of January 2025

Joan Lawson, Chancellor