SCRANTON – The Diocese of Scranton formally concluded the Jubilee Year of Hope locally with a Closing Mass celebrated on Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.
The Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, served as the principal celebrant and homilist for the liturgy, which was held on the Feast of the Holy Family. Several hundred people were in attendance for the Closing Mass.
The Jubilee Year, proclaimed by Pope Francis and celebrated by the universal Church every 25 years, officially began on Christmas Eve 2024 with the opening of the Holy Door at Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. While Pope Leo XIV formally closed the Holy Year in Rome on the Solemnity of the Epiphany, Jan. 6, Bishop Bambera noted that local churches around the world were called the mark the Jubilee’s conclusion with a Mass of Thanksgiving.
“In his papal bull proclaiming the Jubilee Year, Pope Francis emphasized the theme of hope, a much-needed virtue in a time of uncertainty, war, and tribulation,” Bishop Bambera said. “Everyone knows what it is to hope. In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring.”
Bishop Bambera noted that the Jubilee Year unfolded in ways few could have anticipated, particularly following the death of Pope Francis on April 21, just one day after his final Easter Sunday blessing.
“Not surprisingly, given the death of the Holy Father, the motto of the Jubilee Year – Pilgrims of Hope – took on a different light,” he said.
Citing Archbishop Rino Fisichella, organizer of Jubilee 2025 events, the Bishop noted that “Christian hope is not a sentiment, but a promise,” rooted in eternal life revealed through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Throughout the last year, the Diocese and its parishes across northeastern and north central Pennsylvania marked the occasion through both special events and everyday parish life.
While not a complete list, the Diocese celebrated Masses honoring persons with disabilities, vocations, mothers, priest and religious jubilarians, and married couples.
Additional celebrations included the Feast of Corpus Christi, a Hispanic Heritage Mass, a Respect Life Mass, and the ordination of two new priests and eight permanent deacons.
Two major Diocesan pilgrimages also marked the Jubilee Year. Nearly 100 faithful traveled to Rome in late August and early September, while more than 600 pilgrims journeyed to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 1.
Because the local Closing Mass of the Jubilee Year coincided with the Feast of the Holy Family, Bishop Bambera acknowledged both the blessings and struggles present in family life.
“No family is immune from life with its opportunities and its challenges,” he said, noting that Jesus, Mary, and Joseph themselves experienced hardship, poverty, displacement, and fear. Yet, he emphasized, they faced those realities “with a deep sense of trust in God and a selfless, sacrificial love that bound them together as a family and provided them with hope.”
Calling the faithful to carry the Jubilee forward, Bishop Bambera urged them to embrace the virtues outlined by Saint Paul: “heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience,” reminding them that “over all these put on love, this is, the bond of perfection.”