Pope Francis Announces Theme for World Peace Day 2025

Pope Francis has announced “Forgive us our trespasses: grant us your peace” as the theme for the 2025 World Day of Peace, set to be celebrated on January 1.

This theme aligns with the Holy Year 2025, which begins on December 24, and emphasizes hope and forgiveness, according to the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

The Dicastery’s August 8 statement said the Jubilee is “a time for conversion that calls us not to condemn, but instead to bring about reconciliation and peace.” The theme is inspired by Pope Francis’s encyclical letters, particularly Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti, and focuses on both spiritual and social growth.

The Vatican’s announcement also said there is a need for a “genuine conversion on all levels—personal, local, and international” to foster true peace. Such a conversion should lead to “a new reality in which wounds are healed and each person’s dignity is recognized.”

In the past, Pope Francis encouraged reflection on forgiveness as central to achieving global peace. The Vatican announcement also called for the forgiveness of foreign debt, urging the wealthiest nations to take part in “the Jubilee tradition of the forgiveness of sins and the cancellation of debts.”

It said that the tradition of Jubilee and debt cancellation can inspire “much needed spiritual, social, economic, ecological and cultural change.”

Pray for peace!

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Photo credit: Jubilee of Mercy, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 via Flickr