AND IT GOES ON AND ON | KAIROS GLOBAL | JANUARY 2026

Author: Fr Justin Panachickal MSFS

When the Jubilee Year was announced, I thought it would be a general event like the Jubilee of Mercy or the Year of St Joseph. Even being here in Rome and having started to write articles on the Jubilee events, I thought – Ok, they are celebrating all the major sectors of the Church and society. But I never imagined that it would be so diverse and the list so long. As the Jubilee year enters the final phase, I am still awestruck by the way the Catholic Church has celebrated life, just by the sheer amount of name tags of the events. And I’m writing to you about November – we have one more month to go. 

The Jubilee of Work was held on 8 November in the Vatican. The event, scheduled to take place from 1 to 4 May, was unfortunately cancelled after the passing of Pope Francis. Following numerous requests, the Dicastery decided to once again dedicate a Jubilee Day to the world of work. I was around the Vatican on that day and seeing people come in fluorescent jackets and helmets and all other work outfits, I first thought there was some huge work project going on. You know, it’s not a surprise any more. The talk of the town is that there will always be some construction work in Rome 24x7x365! Various trade unions and delegations on top of all labour and volunteer associations and federations participated in this event. It was good to see the jumpsuits and overalls united in prayer. 

Then from 14-16 November, there was the Jubilee of the Poor. It also marks the ‘9th edition’ of the World Day of the Poor. The relics of St Benedict Joseph Labre, known as ‘God's wanderer,’ which are normally kept in the Church of Santa Maria ai Monti, were present in St Peter’s Basilica. Labre was a saint who had no fixed abode and who chose the Colosseum as his home. The motto chosen by the Holy Father for this year's edition is taken from Psalm 71 (v. 5): ‘You, my Lord, are my hope.’ After Mass on 16 November, Pope Leo XIV held a lunch for 1,300 guests including migrants, refugees and the unemployed, in Paul VI Hall, organised by the Dicastery of the Service of Charity. After lunch, each person received a backpack with basic necessities, sponsored by the Vincentian Fathers, who on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of their foundation, wanted to honour the poor with a concrete gesture of support. The initiative, first proposed in 2017, had been strongly supported by Pope Francis to urge the Church to ‘go beyond’ its walls to encounter poverty in today's world. 

During this time, I learned an interesting thing. Before the Jubilee of the Poor, there were numerous charity services being offered in the week leading to this day. One was the free medical care provided by the Madre di Misericordia clinic. Though already undertaking this, during this week, it was open from 0800-1800 hours. The clinic provides over 2,000 free medical services every month, thanks to the work of 120 volunteer doctors, nurses, and healthcare technicians. Approximately 10,000 people of 139 different nationalities are served at the clinic. Given the growing demand for care, the new San Martino clinic was inaugurated on the 9th World Day of the Poor. Built in collaboration with the Directorate of Health and Hygiene of the Vatican City Governorate, the clinic features two new examination rooms equipped with cutting-edge equipment and a new radiology service. Another very important initiative is the opening of the San Francesco d'Assisi Laundry in Parma. This service provides needy and homeless people with free access to everything they need for personal hygiene and laundry, including showers. 

The Jubilee of Choirs was held on 22-23 November. It was a very beautiful sight with choirs from all over the world (100 registered choirs) coming together. There was singing and performing in the streets. At first, we wondered about all the pomp and music. Later we realised that they were choir groups that came for the jubilee. The Jubilee, dedicated especially to professional, diocesan, parish, and amateur choirs, had registered approximately 35,000 pilgrims from 117 countries. On the evening of 22 November, they enlivened the Masses in over 90 parishes in Rome. 

Celebrating the Jubilee of Choirs on the Solemnity of Christ the King, Pope Leo XIV invited choristers and musicians to rediscover their ministry as a service of love, unity, and synodality within the Church, a service of love not a performance on stage. That afternoon, the Dicastery for Evangelization had organised a concert, entitled ‘A Single Voice through the Centuries.’ This initiative, part of the ‘Jubilee is Culture’ cultural programme, consisted of a liturgical-musical journey presenting, in the form of an artistic pilgrimage, the richness and diversity of choral forms born within the Western sacred tradition. 

The Jubilee of 2025 is bringing with it events that at other times would have been impossible – unique events that make this Holy Year a year for the history books. For the first time in more than 12 centuries, the relic of the Most Precious Blood of Christ has left the Basilica of Saint Andrew in Mantua and travelled to Rome on 17 November. It was kept at the San Salvatore in Lauro Sanctuary and returned to Mantua on the 25th. On 21 November, there was a solemn pilgrim procession with the relic from the sanctuary to the Holy Doors of Saint Peter’s Basilica. Tradition says that Longinus, the centurion who pierced the side of Jesus with a lance and later converted by the event, had collected the soil soaked with the blood of Jesus and later brought it to Mantua where it has been kept to this day. Later, Emperor Charlemagne, in the year 700, invited Pope Leo III, who certified the relic as genuine. Since then, thousands upon thousands of pilgrims have venerated it.

Lots of reports are coming in regarding Pope Leo addressing various youth gatherings online including that of around 15,000 in Indianapolis in the US and answering their questions on various topics and addressing another gathering in Australia. The Lebanese youth have called Pope Leo XIV a Big Brother visiting the younger ones, when he told them to be the source of Hope.

And FYI, the Vatican Dicastery of Communication has released a documentary titled ‘Leo from Chicago’ detailing the life of Pope Leo XIV (Robert Francis Prevost). The 52-minute film explores his early life in Chicago, his education, his time as a missionary in Peru, and his path to becoming Pope. It features interviews with family, friends, and teachers, and highlights his roots in American culture, his passion for sports (like the Chicago White Sox), and his dedication to service. It is available on Vatican News’ YouTube channel. 

August's Jubilee for the Youth, with over 1.2 million young people participating, was named ‘the most iconic event of the year’ at the Best Event Awards 2025 (BEA). The award was presented on 29 November  during the ‘Oscars’ of the Italian and international events world, held in Rome at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, which featured the major Jubilee events.

Fr Justin Panachickal MSFS is currently doing his licentiate in social communications at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce, and will share with us throughout the Jubilee year ground reports from Rome.