THE MONUMENTAL JUBILEE YEAR 2033 | KAIROS GLOBAL | JANUARY 2026

Author: Luke Coppen

Intro : To understand the Extraordinary Jubilee of 2033, Luke Coppen takes us back in time to 1933 when a similar jubilee was proclaimed by Pope Pius XI ‘to return love to the Lover’.

This year, millions of pilgrims from around the world have streamed through the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica. But the 2025 Jubilee is soon coming to an end. 

On 6 January 2026, Pope Leo XIV will stand before the imposing doors, which are decorated with 16 panels depicting Man’s fall and redemption. Then, as photographers’ cameras click, he will grasp the doors’ handles and slowly pull them closed.

Ordinarily, the Holy Door would remain shut for 25 years until the next Jubilee Year. But that will not be the case this time. That’s because there are different types of Jubilee. The principal kind is known as an Ordinary Jubilee. This is the one that’s celebrated every 25 years, with the next falling in 2050.

Thankfully for those of us pushing 40, there is another variety, called an Extraordinary Jubilee. These are declared by the pope when he wants to commemorate a special event or draw attention to a specific Catholic teaching. The 21st century has so far seen one such occasion: the 2015-16 Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, proclaimed by Pope Francis.

While there is as yet no official confirmation, it is highly likely there will soon be another Extraordinary Jubilee. This is expected to fall in 2033, when Christians worldwide will commemorate the 2,000th anniversary of the Passion, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

What will that momentous year be like? To get some idea, let’s travel back to 1933. Europe was recovering from one ruinous war and was about to be engulfed by another. Franklin D Roosevelt, the newly inaugurated US President, was launching the New Deal. In India, Mahatma Gandhi was released from prison and began a hunger strike in protest at the treatment of lower castes.

On 6 January that year, Pope Pius XI issued the bull Quod Nuper, announcing an Extraordinary Jubilee marking the 1,900th anniversary of Christ’s death and Resurrection.

In the bull, he noted that, while historians could not be certain that Christ’s passover took place in 33 AD, the 1,900th anniversary was ‘of such gravity and importance that it should not be passed over in silence.’

‘Therefore,’ he wrote, ‘moved by this favourable occasion, let men turn their thoughts, at least for a little while, from earthly and fleeting things, by which they are so acrimoniously tossed about at present, to heavenly and everlasting things; and from the troubled and afflictive conditions of these times, let them lift their minds to the hope of that eternal beatitude to which Christ our Lord has called us, by his own shed blood and the immense benefits he has bestowed.’

He continued: ‘Let them collect themselves from the noise of daily life and “reflect in their hearts, especially during this space of the secular year,” how much our Saviour has loved us and with what ardent zeal He has freed us from the servitude of sin; thus, they will surely burn with greater charity and will be compelled, as it were by necessity, to return love to the Lover.’

The 1933 Jubilee began on 2 April, with the opening of the Holy Door at St Peter’s. Days later, the Pope presided at the liturgies of the Holy Triduum, when the Church immerses Catholics in the events of Christ’s saving death and Resurrection.

More than 2 million pilgrims took up Pius XI’s invitation ‘to return love to the Lover’ in 1933, pouring into Rome on more than 500 railway carriages¹. Pius XI was then 75 years-old and would not live to see the end of the decade. Nevertheless, he poured his energy into the Jubilee, delivering as many as 620 speeches.

A cynic might point out that the 1933 Jubilee Year did nothing to avert the bloodshed that began six years later with Nazi Germany’s rapid invasion of neighbouring Poland, and ended six years later, following the deaths of more than 70 million people.

But that would be to misunderstand the purpose of Jubilee years, which are not so much to shape the course of history, but to invite as many people as possible to drink at the streams of grace, helping them prepare spiritually for whatever challenges lie ahead.

Pope Leo XIV has not yet proclaimed a Holy Year in 2033. That is because the official proclamation comes relatively close to the event itself. For the 2025 Jubilee, Pope Francis issued the bull of indiction, as it is known, in May 2024. So Pope Leo is unlikely to put pen to paper for the 2033 Extraordinary Jubilee until 2032.

But we can be confident the Jubilee will take place, because both the Vatican and Rome’s civil authorities are in the early stages of preparing for the event. Archbishop Rino Fisichella, a pro-prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization, is the curial official in charge of preparations. He recently told² civic organisers that the 2033 event ‘must match in importance the Great Jubilee of 2000 wanted by Pope John Paul II, because it will be the 2,000th anniversary of the redemption, death, and Resurrection of Jesus, and it matters not only for Christians.’

Initiatives focusing on spiritual preparations for 2033 are springing up. The Evangelization 2033 project, for example, describes itself as ‘a global drive and movement to make the world know and love Jesus by the year 2033.’ It is inviting Catholics to play a part in an effort to give Christ ‘the one Jubilee 2033 gift he truly deserves: an evangelised world.’

A similar project is known as Global 2033. Its ambitious goal is to ‘equip and mobilise 133 million Catholics to become missionary disciples.’ Supporters are invited to pray daily for the nations at 20.33 (8.33 pm). The initiative’s promoters include not only Catholics but also prominent figures from other Christian traditions, such as Rick Warren, the US pastor and author of The Purpose Driven Life.

At a preparatory event outside of Rome this year, Warren said,³ ‘On Pentecost Sunday, 5 June 2033, that will be the 2,000th birthday of Christianity. It’s the 2,000th birthday of the Church, the 2,000th celebration of the Resurrection, and so all around the world, Christians of every different tribe, for probably about a decade have been thinking: how are we going to celebrate the 2,000th birthday of Christ, the Church, the body of Christ on Earth? And people say, well, what do you give God, who has everything? He wants his lost children found.’

Evangelization 2033 and Global 2033 are motivated by the words of Christ, who asked his disciples to go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:16-20). But the goal of evangelising areas where the Gospel has yet to take root will be extremely challenging. That is partly because religious freedom is shrinking rather than expanding in the 21st century. According to a recent report from the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need, more than 5.4 billion people⁴ – almost two-thirds of the world’s population – live in countries marked by grave violations of religious liberty.

In the past, intrepid missionaries would take long boat trips to unevangelised lands, where, more often than not, they were either martyred or died of illness. One possible advantage of the 2033 evangelisation projects is that they are harnessing the power of the web. This allows them, theoretically, to bring the Gospel to anyone with an internet connection, without the dangers of physical travel.

But for Christ’s message to take root in societies where it is currently unknown or banished to the margins, it is ultimately necessary to establish Christian communities. The 2033 initiatives could, if they are fruitful, prepare the way for a new era of Catholic missionary enterprise that produces its own St Francis Xaviers and Matteo Riccis.

Luke Coppen is senior correspondent of The Pillar (pillarcatholic.com).