Why The Catholic Church’s Jubilee Festivities Are Muted In Jerusalem
JERUSALEM — Rome has been all gussied up for the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year. An extra 10 million pilgrims are forecast, adding to last year's record of 22 million. More than $8 billion has been spent to refurbish the city’s historic sites with their ancient ruins, spectacular churches and Renaissance fountains.
Infrastructure work has repaired potholed roads, collected trash and extended the metro to create a transfer station at the Colosseum. This past December, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni inaugurated a new pedestrian area along Piazza Pia and the underpass leading to the Vatican — the biggest infrastructure projects timed for the Jubilee celebration.
Nothing similar has taken place in Jerusalem or elsewhere in Israel.
Continuing the trend established in 2000, when Pope John Paul II expanded the Jubilee to include the Holy Land, Pope Francis has proclaimed that pilgrims can also receive indulgences by visiting at least one of three basilicas in the Holy Land: Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
Holy year 2025 in the Holy Land began on Dec. 29, 2024, with an inaugural Mass at the Nazareth basilica, presided over by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa. Touted by Israel’s Ministry of Tourism as “The Catholic Jubilee Year 2025, Pilgrims of Hope: A Unique Opportunity for Pilgrimage and Tourism in Israel,” in fact, precious little has been done to enhance pilgrimage and tourism facilities.
The word Jubilee originates from the Hebrew word yovel, meaning ram, referencing the sound of the shofar (the ram’s horn). Heard by the Israelites at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:20), the shofar is a call to inner awakening, a reminder of the need for freedom and justice. The blowing of the one-note shofar marks important moments and, in many traditions, believed to "awaken the heavens." In modern Israel, the shofar heralds the arrival of the new year and can be heard in the streets and synagogues on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Gaza War impact
Though currently nearing the end of Islam's holy lunar month of Ramadan, there is little joy. No festive lights festoon the Old City of Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate. Tourists are eerily absent. Airbnb superhosts have lost their coveted status since they no longer meet the short-term homestay company’s minimum hosting requirement. The city, indeed all of Israel, is under the pall of the ongoing Gaza War since the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks.
The resumption of the war in Gaza — after Israel broke a two-month ceasefire following 15 months of devastating conflict — has brought with it the prospect of more death and destruction. At the same time, protests continue in Tel Aviv’s “hostages square” in front of the city’s art museum. In Jerusalem, mass demonstrations take place every Saturday night near the prime minister’s residence following the end of the weekly Sabbath.
Hamas’s ghoulishly staged and televised ceremonies handing over hostages to the Red Cross traumatized the country in recent weeks, as have details about the strangulation of the red-haired babies Ariel and Kfir Bibas. Their corpses were mutilated to suggest they had been killed in an IDF airstrike. In a further gesture of calculated cruelty, Hamas released the corpse of an anonymous Gazan woman instead of their murdered mother, Shiri.
The major sign of the Jubilee Year in Jerusalem is the ongoing renovation taking place in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Christianity’s holiest site, marking where Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. For a few days in February, the basilica was closed to the public while work proceeded uninterrupted. The centuries-old stone floors have been covered with a temporary resurfacing, and scaffolding hides many of the medieval icons.
The parvis (courtyard facing the sole entrance to the church) has been turned into a staging area for the construction work. Pre-war, the line to enter the aedicule, marking where Jesus’ body was placed in his grave, could stretch for an hour. Today, pilgrims can sometimes saunter in without standing in a queue.
Awaiting Easter
This year, Christians of all denominations — Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox — will celebrate Holy Week at the same time, culminating with Easter on April 20.
Ministry of Tourism officials are optimistic that the Gaza War won’t interfere with their Way to Jerusalem pilgrimage initiative from Jaffa Port to Jerusalem’s Jaffa Gate, slated for April 14-19. The 41-mile (67 kilometer) pilgrimage will follow the route taken by millions of Russian Orthodox muzhiks prior to World War I, stopping at numerous churches, monasteries and shrines marking Jesus’ life and death.
Another milestone, if met, will be the opening of the third and final phase of the Terra Sancta Museum in Jerusalem, showcasing a collection of religious artifacts gifted to the Holy Sepulcher by European kings and emperors over the centuries. Developed by the Custody of the Land, the new museum wing inside the Franciscans’ St. Savior Monastery is sure to be a must-see for every Christian pilgrim.
Also nearing completion are the archaeological excavations along the Pilgrimage Road at the City of David, leading from the Siloam Pool up to the Temple Mount. Jesus miraculously healed a blind man there (John 9:1-11). Pilgrims will be able to ascend from the mikvah (ritual bath) to the Western Wall, though most of the route will be underground.
Finally, the Israel Museum and its sister institution, the Shrine of the Book, are planning a major exhibition to celebrate their establishment 60 years ago. The Shrine of the Book houses the Isaiah Scroll and other 2,000-year-old Bible manuscripts discovered in the Qumran caves near the Dead Sea.
The Shrine of the Book has been closed to the public since Oct. 7 attacks in order to protect its manuscripts, which are recognized as of fundamental importance to Judaism and Christianity.
Gil Zohar was born in Toronto and moved to Jerusalem in 1982. He is a journalist writing for The Jerusalem Post, Segula magazine and other publications. He’s also a professional tour guide who likes to weave together the Holy Land’s multiple narratives.