2025-10
To all Clergy, Religious Sisters, and the Lay Christian Faithful
Greetings in Christ!
Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has marked this year 2025 as the Jubilee Year, centering on the Christian virtue of Hope. As he states, “SPES NON CONFUNDIT. “Hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5). Hope is also the central message of the coming Jubilee that, in accordance with an ancient tradition, the Pope proclaims every twenty-five years. My thoughts turn to all those pilgrims of hope who will travel to Rome in order to experience the Holy Year and to all those others who, though unable to visit the City of the Apostles Peter and Paul, will celebrate it in their local Churches. For everyone, may the Jubilee be a moment of genuine, personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, the “door” (cf. Jn 10:7.9) of our salvation, whom the Church is charged to proclaim always, everywhere and to all as “our hope” (1 Tim 1:1). (1)
For this reason, I therefore designate 4 parishes churches in our Diocese of Chalan Kanoa as Pilgrim churches throughout this Jubilee Year 2025. They are:
- Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral
- Kristo Rai Parish
- San Jose (St. Joseph the Worker) Parish Tinian
- San Francisco de Borja Parish Luta
These places of worship will be pilgrim sites where the Christian faithful may receive a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions: sacramental confession (within 8 days before or after the visit) , reception of Holy Communion that day, prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father, and seek to be detached from sin. Indeed the Holy Father reminds us, “23. Indeed, the indulgence is a way of discovering the unlimited nature of God’s mercy. Not by chance, for the ancients, the terms “mercy” and “indulgence” were interchangeable, as expressions of the fullness of God’s forgiveness, which knows no bounds. (23)
I encourage you to participate in this holy Jubilee year, may it be a time of renewal of faith and personal encounter with Jesus Christ, who is our hope. Given on Laetare Sunday, March 30th 2025.
In Christ,
/s/ +Romeo D. Convocar D.D.
Bishop Chalan Kanoa
