VATICAN (SE): The official logo for the upcoming Jubilee 2025, during press conference on Tuesday, July 35, in the Sala Regia of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, Vatican News reported.
The then-Pontifical Council for the New Evangelisation, now contained within the new Dicastery for Evangelisation, was entrusted with coordinating the Holy See’s preparations for the Holy Year 2025 with the motto: “Pilgrims of Hope.”
Former council president, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, presented the logo and recalling that as preparations began for the Holy Year, the dicastery had a competition, open to all, for the logo’s creation.
A total of 294 entries were received from 213 cities and 48 different countries, he said, noting participants ranged in age from six to 83.
“In fact, many hand-drawn designs were received from children from all over the world, and it was really moving to go through these drawings which were the fruit of imagination and simple faith,” Archbishop Fisichella said.
During the judging, the works were identified only by a number so that the author remained anonymous the Vatican News report said. On June 11, Archbishop Fisichella submitted the three final projects to Pope Francis to select the one that struck him the most.
In fact, many hand-drawn designs were received from children from all over the world, and it was really moving to go through these drawings which were the fruit of imagination and simple faith
Archbishop Fisichella
“After looking at the projects several times and expressing his preference, the project of Giacomo Travisani was chosen,” the archbishop said.
Travisani, who was at the unveiling, reflected on what motivated his submission recounting how he had imagined all people moving forward together, able to push ahead “thanks to the wind of hope that is the Cross of Christ and Christ himself. “
The logo depicts four stylised figures representing all of humanity from the four corners of the Earth. They each embrace one another, indicating the solidarity and brotherhood that must unite peoples. The first figure is clinging to the cross. The underlying waves are choppy to indicate that the pilgrimage of life is not always on calm waters.
Because personal circumstances and world events often call for a greater sense of hope, the lower part of the cross is elongates into an anchor, which dominates the movement of the waves.
The image shows how the pilgrim’s journey is not individual, but rather communal, with the signs of a growing dynamism that moves more and more toward the cross
Anchors often have been used as metaphors for hope.
The image shows how the pilgrim’s journey is not individual, but rather communal, with the signs of a growing dynamism that moves more and more toward the cross.
“The cross is not static,” Archbishop Fisichella suggested, “but dynamic, bending toward and meeting humanity as if not to leave it alone, but rather offering the certainty of its presence and the reassurance of hope.”
The Jubilee 2025 motto, Peregrinantes in Spem [Pilgrims in hope] is also clearly visible in the colour green.
“Every Holy Year in the history of the Church, has taken on its full meaning when it is placed within the historical context that humanity is experiencing at that time and particularly when it is able to read the signs of anxiety and unrest combined with people’s perceived expectations,” the archbishop reflected.
“The vulnerability experienced in recent years, together with the fear of the violence of wars only makes the human condition more paradoxical: on the one hand, to feel the overwhelming power of technology which determines their days; on the other hand, to feel uncertain and confused about their future,” he added.
Vatican News reported Archbishop Fisichella as noting that it was in this context that “Pilgrims of Hope” was chosen for the Jubilee’s theme.
“It expresses the need to make sense of the present so that it can be preparatory for a real thrust into the future in order to embrace and respond to the various challenges that arise from time to time,” the archbishop said.
