a very special pilgrimage

Walk into Rome, on pilgrimage, in the Year of Jubilee 2025

Pope Francis has declared 2025 as a year of Jubilee * with the theme of Hope

Join us on pilgrimage, walking from Viterbo into Rome, some 60 miles, followed by time in Rome itself. It will be organized for us by McCabe Pilgrimages https://www.mccabe-travel.co.uk

and the Revds Kim and Penelope Swithinbank will be your pilgrimage leaders.

We will be walking the final 60 miles of the Via Francigena, the ancient pilgrimage route from Canterbury to Rome, on the Via Cassia through the Lazio area, in late spring. Etruscan roads and Roman roads, strade bianche (white farm tracks) and footpaths, followed by the unavoidable walk through the outskirts of Rome .... and then the amazing crossing of the Tiber and into St Peter’s Square.

This diagram is taken from ATG; our walk will be different but with the same route and (a few) ups and (some) downs and the flat stretch into Rome itself and then – the fabulous walk across the Tiber to St Peter’s Square.

Our theme will of course be HOPE. The jubilee year already has lots of preparations in place; there is a Jubilee hymn, prayer, and Pilgrimage Card. It’s all very exciting as we think about the HOPE we have in the Lord.

Places are limited to 25, and we don’t want you to miss out on this very special opportunity, so pop over to the McCabe website and book now! We’d love to have you join us.

Hope to see you in Viterbo and on to Rome!

there’s always time for a gelato for him…. but our favourite one is in the Trastavere in Rome!

*“Jubilee” is the name given to a particular year; the name comes from the instrument used to mark its launch. In this case, the instrument in question is the yobel, the ram's horn, used to proclaim the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). This (Jewish) holiday occurs every year, but it takes on special significance when it marks the beginning of a Jubilee year. We can find an early indication of it in the Bible: a Jubilee year was to be marked every 50 years, since this would be an “extra” year, one which would happen every seven weeks of seven years, i.e., every 49 years (cf. Leviticus 25:8-13). Even though it wasn’t easy to organise, it was intended to be marked as a time to re-establish a proper relationship with God, with one another, and with all of creation, and involved the forgiveness of debts, the return of misappropriated land, and a fallow period for the fields.

Quoting the prophet Isaiah, the Gospel of Luke describes Jesus’ mission in this way: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord,” (Luke 4:18-19; cf. Isaiah 61:1-2). Jesus lives out these words in his daily life, in his encounters with others and in his relationships, all of which bring about liberation and conversion.

In 1300, Pope Boniface VIII called the first Jubilee, also known as a “Holy Year,” since it is a time in which God's holiness transforms us.