When Pope Francis opened the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica to officially launch Jubilee Year 2025, little did anyone know that when it would close just over a year later, it would be at the hands of his successor on the See of Peter.

Not since 1700, with the death of Pope Innocent XII and election of Pope Clement XI as his successor, would two popes preside over a Jubilee Year. Pope Leo XIV would be handed the torch from Pope Francis, who was called to the Father on April 21, just one day after delivering what would be his final Easter Sunday “urbi et orbi” blessing. And though Francis’ ill health over the last few years of his papacy was well documented, witnessed firsthand by Canadians who welcomed a wheelchair-bound Francis during his 2022 Pilgrimage of Penance to our nation, his passing still came as a shock to the world.

Perhaps none more shocked was Cardinal Robert Prevost, the American-born prelate who would be elevated to the papacy May 8 just days after his predecessor’s passing. The new pontiff would take the name Leo XIV and immediately be thrust into a new world, not the least of which was a world where he would be called upon to fulfil the commitments of Francis for this Jubilee Year.

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The solemn celebrations that surround a Jubilee Year come but once every 25 years. Special Jubilee celebrations are planned for most weekends, and not even the death of a pope could bring these celebrations to a stop. Enter Pope Leo, who inherited a full calendar, and to his credit one he would shape into his own. As Archbishop Rino Fischella, organizer of the Jubilee 2025 events and pro-prefect of the Dicastery of Evangelization, would say, “Pope Leo XIV accepted the calendar without fear and, from the beginning, chose to maintain the programmed Jubilee commitments.”

And what else would the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics expect? Perhaps Fischella put it best when he said the fact Pope Francis would not finish what he had begun is of “profound symbolic value.”

“Let this unfinished gesture become an invitation for every believer: The mission of the Church never closes,” he said.

Ah yes, the mission of the Church. Indeed, it never does close — for 365 days each year, 24 hours a day, the heart of the Church is open, not just to said 1.4 billion Catholics, but to all of God’s children. And Pope Leo has shown this each day since assuming the papacy. To many observers, it’s been a fairly seamless transition, beyond just seeing the Jubilee year through to its end. Many might argue the Church under Leo XIV is a mere continuation of the Francis papacy.

Is this true? Well, with such a short window to compare, it’s hard to say. We do see some similarities though. On synodality, one of Francis’ great achievements as he steered the Church on its journey together in understanding her mission and looking to the future, Leo has been a champion. Yet he has also shifted the conversation surrounding it, with signals of a more unifying approach toward more traditionally minded adherents to the pre-conciliar liturgy. 

And his first apostolic exhortation, released in early October, may make one see this continuity as well. Dilexi Te (I Have Loved You) on the Church’s love for the poor could be words taken directly from Pope Francis’ mouth. In fact, it was begun by Pope Francis and was unfinished at the time of Francis’ death. Pope Leo would then complete his predecessors’ work. Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny, though, probably put it best when asked what percentage Pope Leo added to the original. Czerny’s response? “It is 100 per cent Francis, and it is 100 per cent Leo.”

While the math may not add up, it was clear that the two see the Church’s love for the poor in the same light. Pope Leo would write, “Love for the poor — whatever form their poverty may take — is the evangelical hallmark of a Church faithful to the heart of God. I am convinced that the preferential choice for the poor is a source of extraordinary renewal both for the Church and for society, if we can only set ourselves free or our self-centredness and open our ear to their cry.”

But in reality, hasn’t every one of the 266 popes shone this same light on the poor? Could you listen to the words of the sainted Pope John Paul II and not hear that same call? Or Pope Paul VI? Benedict XIV? Leo I through XIII?

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And like so many of his predecessors, we have seen his ability to connect to people. Look no further than early August, just three months into his papacy, and the Jubilee of Youth that drew about one million young people to Rome. His message to the gathered youth — if we are to be honest about continuing the path of all his predecessors — would be familiar to the hundreds of thousands who gathered in Toronto 23 years earlier for World Youth Day. Like John Paul II told those gathered under the steamy mid-summer Toronto celebration, Leo would tell those in Rome this summer, “You will be the salt of the earth, light of the world.” Pope Leo would continue: “You will be seeds of hope wherever you live: in your families, with your friends, at school, at work, in sports. Seeds of hope with Christ, our hope.” 

This ability to connect was possibly most profound on the world stage, when in late November Pope Leo embarked on his first foreign trip to Turkey and Lebanon. Ostensibly planned around an ecumenical celebration of the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and the Nicene Creed that most Christians abide by, he offered his encouragement to the minority Catholic communities in these lands while demonstrating the utmost respect for the majority Muslim communities.

“The more we can promote authentic unity and understanding, respect and human relationships of friendship and dialogue in the world, the greater possibility there is that we will put aside the arms of war, that we will leave aside the distrust, the hatred, the animosity that has so often been built up and that we will find ways to come together and be able to promote authentic peace and justice throughout the world,” he told reporters on the flight back to Rome.

How Pope Leo responds to what awaits him in the coming years of his papacy will reveal just who he truly is. All indications to date should be favourable and welcome to Catholics.

While we look forward to what Pope Leo can bring to the Church and the world, we can’t forget Pope Francis and what his 12 year papacy meant. An outsider when elevated to the papacy in March 2013, he must be remembered for so much, from the unprecedented scenario of living side-by-side in the Vatican with Pope Benedict XIV, to penning Laudato Si’ , his now 10-year-old encyclical on the care for our common home. Love him or hate him — and there are plenty on each side of that ledger — there’s no doubt he left his mark. Ines San Martin, the vice president of communications at the Pontifical Mission Societies USA, writing in OSV News, may have put it best:

“Perhaps the best early epitaph is this: Pope Francis was a man who electrified the world and delivered a sort of shock therapy to the Church he led, driving it to rethink established patterns and to go boldly where it hadn’t before. His record as CEO may be mixed, his positions on specific political or ecclesiastical matters debatable, but no one can say Francis didn’t have their attention.”

Amen.

But back to the Jubilee. Rome, one of the most visited cities in the world at the best of times, saw a huge influx of pilgrims this year. The numbers vary, but it is safe to say the Eternal City had a record-breaking year for tourism. And the city can thank the pilgrims who came for the Jubilee, many of them Canadians, including Toronto’s Cardinal Frank Leo who was accompanied by more than 100 pilgrims from the archdiocese.

But the Jubilee was not a Rome-alone phenomena. Dioceses worldwide took part in this once-every-25-year celebration of the faith. In Toronto, Cardinal Leo celebrated numerous special liturgies throughout the year, including a gathering of more than 4,000 in late August at the Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland, Ont. The Church was truly a Jubilee Church in 2025.

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While so many celebrated the beauty and wonder of Our Lord and His Church over this past year, what can’t be forgotten are those who suffered for their faith. So many were persecuted, a sad fact too often detailed in these pages over the past year and beyond. Nigeria in particular, the two Sudans, Armenia, the faithful in those nations suffered constant religious persecution, with it being said that in Nigeria alone, 32 Christians have been killed each day, millions are displaced, parishes have closed due to the spectre of violence and rampant kidnappings are a constant threat — as seen in the 315 students and staff kidnapped from St. Mary’s School in Niger state on Nov. 22. As Nigerian-born Fr. Gordian Okpuruka told The Catholic Register earlier this month, what is transpiring in his homeland “is horrifying and very troubling.”

But as Catholics, and as we approach a new year, there is always hope. We don’t know what 2026 will bring, surely much of the same, but we remain hopeful: for a better future, for a better life for one and all, and the hope — no, not just hope, but the knowledge — that Our Lord will continue to look out for us.