JERUSALEM — Hope, the theme chosen by Pope Francis for Jubilee 2025, is in short supply in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza right now, but is needed more than ever, local Catholic leaders say. 

While few Holy Land Christians will be able to travel to Rome for the special yearlong celebration, they will celebrate the jubilee where the Church began.  

The Diocese of Jerusalem launched the Jubilee Year in the northern Israeli city of Nazareth, at the Basilica of the Annunciation, the site where the Virgin Mary learned that she would be carrying the Son of God in her womb. It opened with a celebratory but solemn Mass, on Dec. 29, 2024, in keeping with the mood in Israel, which has been at war with Hamas and other Iranian proxies for much of the past 15 months. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem and president of the Assembly of the Catholic Ordinaries in the Holy Land (AOCHL), was the principal celebrant. 

In a message to the faithful, the members of the assembly urged local Christians to “live this Jubilee intensely, to take part in the pastoral and spiritual initiatives which will be proposed in their respective communities,” in particular by making pilgrimages to the holy places on their doorstep. 

“For us, Catholics of the Holy Land, hope, precisely in these times, is especially necessary,” assembly members said in a message to Holy Land Catholics. 

“If we look at this time of trial and tribulation from a purely human point of view, this inevitably leads us to discouragement, to a cynical view of the present and the future, to the very loss of faith and the consequent abandonment of the Church,” the message state. But “it is precisely in this context that God’s word and the Jubilee year itself invite us to rediscover hope.”

The assembly’s statement noted that while traveling to Rome is one important aspect of this year, it is possible to experience the Jubilee “in its fullness, as an experience of reconciliation and mercy” that results in the forgiveness of sins and punishments by making a pilgrimage to three of the most important Holy Land churches: the Basilica of the Annunciation in the northern Israeli city of Nazareth, the Basilica of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, and the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher-Anastasis in Jerusalem. 

“They are the places from which the hope of Christians around the world originates and is nourished: Throughout the year, let us try to be ourselves pilgrims to these places, as a community, as families and also in a personal way,” the assembly said. 

Auxiliary Bishop Rafic Nahra of the Latin Patriarchate, who is heading the Jubilee Committee in the Holy Land, emphasized that the theme of hope is a universal one. 

“The Pope perceived a crisis of hope in the world,” Bishop Nahra told the Register. “There are so many problems, so many crises and wars, both here and elsewhere.” The challenge, he said, is finding ways to restore hope. 

“Hope is not a feeling that goes up and down, optimistic or pessimistic. It is based on the history of salvation between God and human beings. It is the affirmation that God is present and that we are not alone in this world. This is the foundation of hope,” Bishop Nahra said. 

The bishop said he views Jubilee 2025 as “a means to open a new page” in one’s life. “God gives us the possibility to restart. Perhaps you made many mistakes, your situation is very bad, but you can restart.”

Bishop Nahra said Christians around the world can help their brethren in the Holy Land celebrate the Jubilee Year by coming on pilgrimages. The Holy Land tourism industry was decimated first by COVID-19 and again on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas massacred 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, igniting a war between Hamas and Israel.  

Although fighting continues between Hamas combatants and Israel Defense Forces soldiers in Gaza, the security situation has improved dramatically. Tour groups from Africa, Asia and South America are starting to return, but few pilgrims are coming from North America, travel officials say. 

“Many people lost their jobs in hotels, restaurants,” Bishop Nahra noted. “They need the presence of pilgrims in order to live. Please tell people they are most welcome and that they can play a role in helping the local population to live and restart. They would give Jubilee to others.” 

In mid-January, Israel’s Ministry of Tourism hosted the first official Catholic delegation to Israel in at least a decade, in the hope that Catholic tour operators will encourage pilgrims to celebrate the Jubilee in Israel. The Italian delegation — one bishop and 11 parish priests — were scheduled to visit several Christian holy sites and to meet with senior officials from the Catholic Church in the Holy Land and from the tourism ministry, as well. 

The pilgrims cannot come soon enough for Christians and others who rely on Holy Land pilgrimages for their livelihoods. 

When Nabil Razouk, a Catholic tour guide who lives in Jerusalem, heard that Pope Francis was about to launch the special year, he hoped that the number of pilgrims visiting the Holy Land would increase dramatically as a result. In addition to security concerns, the reluctance of many international airlines to fly to Israel, and the high fares charged by the airlines that are flying, has contributed to the downtrend.  

“I thought this Jubilee Year can be the turnaround we need, something to bring people here,” said Razouk, who has guided only one tourist, a U.S. priest, since March 2024. Now, he is unable to pay his daughter’s tuition at San Pablo University in Madrid, a Catholic university, and is scrambling for funding. 

While Razouk tries to be optimistic, he is also realistic, knowing that it will take time for tourism to reach pre-COVID levels.  

He said, “I am a patient person, but I am close to 50 years old. If I were younger, I would probably choose another profession.”