At least seven Venezuelan dioceses have joined, in recent days, the Jubilee Year 2025 inaugurated by Pope Francis on December 24. The bishops, together with the clergy and local parishioners, proceeded with the opening of the Holy Doors amid demonstrations of joy and jubilation.
Archdiocese of Valencia
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Mons. Jesús González de Zárate, Archbishop of Valencia and president of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference (CEV), presided today, December 30 the opening ceremony of the Jubilee in the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Socorro, from where he highlighted the importance of cultivating hope in our lives.
“The Holy Year is, first of all, a favorable time to renew our commitment to proclaim Jesus Christ. “He is our Hope,” he stated.
“The Holy Year is an occasion to deepen our communion as the People of God in the Archdiocese. True life, towards which hope leads us, is not individualistic, but involves being existentially united in a ‘people,'” added Bishop González.
In addition, he specified which temples will serve as places of pilgrimage in the archdiocese, one of the most important in the country: the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Socorro; San Juan Bosco, El Concejo; Our Lady of Mercedes, Pocaterra, Libertador municipality; San Diego de Alcalá and La Candelaria, San Diego municipality; Holy Guardian Angels and San Isidro, Floramarillo; Mary Mother of the Church, Ciudad Alianza, Guacara municipality; and San Rafael, Bejuma municipality.
Diocese of Apure
Bishop Alfredo Torres exhorted the crowd, gathered at the entrance of the Cathedral of San Fernando de Apure, in the Venezuelan plains, to “enter through the Door, which is Christ the Way, Truth and Life,” during the opening ceremonies of the Holy Year, December 26.
“Only in this way, entering through Him, embracing the Word, allowing ourselves to be touched by Mercy, deepening in Prayer, do we become Witnesses of Hope,” he added.
Next, using the Cross of the Jubilee Year 2000, he knocked three times on the main door of the Cathedral, which opened, and the prelate entered with those present.
Bishop Torres highlighted that this celebration manifests the communion of the Church in Venezuela with the Holy Father and with the Universal Church, present on the five continents. “The Jubilee is the great festival of the Church, which is filled with joy for the Salvation that Jesus brings us with his Birth,” he stated.
Likewise, he highlighted the urgent need to achieve fraternal coexistence among all men, “because in this way we also become signs of hope for this world, which in many cases walks without meaning and overwhelmed by bad news.”
Diocese of Los Teques
On Saturday, December 28, the diocese of Los Teques, in the central region of the country, celebrated the opening events of the Holy Year 2025. The ceremony was officiated at the Church of the Sagrada Familia, in the city of San Antonio de Los Altos, by Mons. Freddy Fuenmayor, together with the diocesan clergy.
The bishop highlighted the virtue of hope – the central axis of the Jubilee – which “is based on faith and nourished by charity, towards a goal that is the encounter with the Lord Jesus and with the brothers, in the present and in a future of glory, embraced by the cross of Christ who saves and in the certainty of the resurrection”.
“This Jubilee 2025 introduces us, therefore, into a period of spiritual and ecclesial renewal that contributes to the promotion of our evangelizing commitment in each of our cities, fields, neighborhoods and places, even the most distant ones and so that as Christians we contribute to the gestation of a new, more just, fraternal and supportive society,” said Mons. Fuenmayor.
Diocese of El Tigre
In eastern Venezuela, the diocese of El Tigre celebrated the beginning of the Jubilee with the blessing of the pilgrim cross and the reading of the Papal Bull. The clergy and parishioners, led by Bishop José Manuel Romero, walked in pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Valley.
The prelate invited people to pray so that with the Holy Year violence can be eliminated in the world, which suffers from wars, and to build a better future for young people, through the experience of a synodality that promotes Christian unity.
Diocese of Trujillo
In the Andes of the country, Bishop José Trinidad Fernández declared that “the Church is the door of Hope that has been opened wide to the world,” this December 29.
“The Lord asks us to be more daring, and above all, to seek the truth and be tireless dreamers; women and men who allow themselves to be disturbed by the dream of God, which is a dream of a new world. Where peace and justice flourish again in the heart of our Venezuela,” stated the prelate.
In the Diocese of Trujillothe places of pilgrimage will be the Niño Jesús Diocesan Sanctuary of Isnotú, birthplace of Blessed José Gregorio Hernández, and the Holy Cathedral Church of Our Lady of Peace.
Diocese of Puerto Cabello
The coastal diocese of Puerto Cabello, also in the center of the country, inaugurated the Jubilee Year 2025, this December 29. Bishop José Antonio Da Conceição, in the Cathedral of Saint Joseph, opened the Holy Door and informed the faithful that there will be four parishes in the diocese where plenary indulgence can be gained during the Jubilee: Saint Anne (Morón), Our Lady of Charity, Santo Cristo de la Salud (Borburata) and the San José Cathedral.
In the same way, he expressed that he hopes that the Blessed Virgin will be the Star of the Sea, that she will guide the parishioner to the port “which is called Jesus”, at the same time that he asked the Lord and the Virgin, that in this new year they will increase vocations in the diocese he directs.
Diocese of San Carlos
Mons. Ramón Antonio Linares, Bishop Emeritus of the diocese of Barinas, together with Father Jhonluis Garabán, Diocesan Administrator of San Carlos, led the introductory opening rites of the Jubilee Year.
In the company of the local clergy, the prelate stated from the Immaculate Conception Cathedral that “the Jubilee must be a Holy Year for us, a year to renew faith and promote the practice of the sacraments. Let us implore God in this Jubilee to recover the hope that is to place Christ in the depths of the human heart; achieve the renewal of faith, without which we can never embrace a more humane and more Christian world.”
For his part, Father Garabán called to live this celebration with dedication and enthusiasm. “Let us participate in the various meetings to receive special graces such as indulgences; Let us pray that in this Jubilee we have a new bishop according to his heart,” he expressed.
Inauguration of the Jubilee Year 2025 in Caracas
The inauguration of the Jubilee is scheduled in the capital of Venezuela for next January 6when Archbishop Raúl Biord will preside over the celebration of the “Mass of Hope” in the Metropolitan Cathedral, at 10 in the morning (Venezuela time).
Andres Henriquez
I have been a writer for ACI Prensa and a correspondent for EWTN since 2023. Since then, I have covered events in the Catholic Church in Venezuela and Latin America. I have more than 5 years of experience in bilingual media. Additionally, in Venezuela I have worked with non-governmental organizations in favor of freedom and respect for human rights in the country. I have been a member of the Regnum Christi Federation since 2014.