Jubilee of Prisoners

The Jubilee of Prisoners is being marked in the days 12th-14th December 2025, with events taking place in Rome. In his Bull of Indiction for the Jubilee Year (n.10), Pope Francis suggested that signs of hope should particularly be offered to prisoners:

During the Holy Year, we are called to be tangible signs of hope for those of our brothers and sisters who experience hardships of any kind. I think of prisoners who, deprived of their freedom, daily feel the harshness of detention and its restrictions, lack of affection and, in more than a few cases, lack of respect for their persons. I propose that in this Jubilee Year governments undertake initiatives aimed at restoring hope; forms of amnesty or pardon meant to help individuals regain confidence in themselves and in society; and programmes of reintegration in the community, including a concrete commitment to respect for law.

This is an ancient appeal, one drawn from the word of God, whose wisdom remains ever timely. It calls for acts of clemency and liberation that enable new beginnings: “You shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants” ( Lev 25:10). This institution of the Mosaic law was later taken up by the prophet Isaiah: “The Lord has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour” ( Is 61:1-2). Jesus made those words his own at the beginning of his ministry, presenting himself as the fulfilment of the “year of the Lord’s favour” (cf. Lk 4:18-19). In every part of the world, believers, and their Pastors in particular, should be one in demanding dignified conditions for those in prison, respect for their human rights and above all the abolition of the death penalty, a provision at odds with Christian faith and one that eliminates all hope of forgiveness and rehabilitation. In order to offer prisoners a concrete sign of closeness, I would myself like to open a Holy Door in a prison, as a sign inviting prisoners to look to the future with hope and a renewed sense of confidence.

In England and Wales, the Catholic Church engages in a ministry to prisoners and their families/friends through the annual Prisoners' Sunday/Prisons Week and the work of the Prison Advice and Care Trust (PACT).

Prisons Week aims to encourage prayer and awareness of the needs of prisoners and their families, victims of offenders, prisons staff and all those who care.

Pact is a pioneering national charity that supports prisoners, people with convictions, and their children and families. We are the leading Catholic charity working in the criminal justice system. We provide caring and life-changing services at every stage of the justice process: in court, in prison, on release, and in the community.

Prison ministry is also a work stream of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, with Bishop Richard Moth designated as a liaison between the Bishops' Conference and prisons.

One particular initiative in favour of prisoners is the International Prison Outreach of Alive Publishing. 

International Prison Outreach is an initiative supported through the kindness and generosity of our readers through which we provide subscriptions to Bible Alive, books and other Christian resources to prisoners throughout the world.

Through the generosity of our readers we are able to send Bible Alive into prisons in the UK, Ireland, Scotland, Europe and overseas.

In the annual mailing for this initiative, the tradition of Bishops visiting prisons to celebrate Mass on Christmas morning is also recalled.