The Eagle – Pope francesco delivery “Spes non confundit”, the Bull announcing the Holy Year 2025. Spes non confundit, hope does not disappoint is the title, taken from Letter to the Romans (Rom 5.5) of the Bull announcing the ordinary Jubilee delivered yesterday afternoon, 9 May, by the Pope at Churches of the five continents during the second Vespers of the Solemnity ofAscension Day.
In the document Pope Francis looks to the past, that is, to Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy announced in 2015, but also to the future, or rather to the celebration in 2033 of the two thousand years of the Redemption and, even before that, the 1700th anniversary of the celebration of the first great one Ecumenical Council of Nicaea which among the various topics also dealt with the dating of Easter.
In the text of the Bull, the Pope also recalls the Forgiveness of Celestine V, one of the most important historical events in the history of L’Aquila and beyond. These are the words contained in “Spes non confundit” which recall the Forgiveness, The Eagle and the Basilica of Collemaggio:
“I like to think that a path of grace, animated by popular spirituality, preceded the announcement, in 1300of the first Jubilee. Indeed, we cannot forget the various forms through which the grace of forgiveness has poured abundantly upon the holy, faithful People of God. Let us remember, for example, the great “forgiveness” that Saint Celestine V he wanted to grant to those who went to the Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggioto L’Aquila, on August 28th and 29th 1294six years before Pope Boniface VIII established the Holy Year.
The Church was already experiencing, therefore, the Jubilee grace of mercy. And even before that, in 1216Pope Honorius III had accepted the plea of Saint Francis who asked for indulgence for those who would visit there Portiuncula in the first two days of August. The same can be said for the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela: in fact Pope Callistus II, in 1122, allowed the Jubilee to be celebrated in that Sanctuary every time the feast of the apostle James fell on a Sunday. It is good that this “widespread” method of Jubilee celebrations continues, so that the strength of God’s forgiveness supports and accompanies the journey of communities and people“.
