By Courtney Mares
OSV News
ROME — Pope Leo XIV has called on all Christians to work together toward the celebration of 2033, when the Catholic Church will mark an extraordinary Jubilee Year commemorating 2,000 years since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The pope expressed this hope during a June 30 audience with an Orthodox delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, who traveled to Rome for the June 29 feast of Sts. Peter and Paul and joined Pope Leo for prayer at the tomb of St. Peter in the crypt beneath St. Peter’s Basilica at the end of the papal Mass for the feast day.
“Your presence amongst us expresses the fraternal closeness of our sister church in Constantinople and of its shepherd and guide, His All Holiness Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch,” the pope told the delegation June 30.
“I once again express my heartfelt gratitude for this visit, as well as for your personal commitment and that of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to promoting the holy cause of Christian unity,” he said.
Pope Leo used the meeting to look ahead to 2033, when the church will observe a jubilee year marking two millenniums since the passion, death and resurrection of Christ. He expressed hope that the milestone could become a shared moment for all Christians.
“May the journey towards the celebration of the second millennium of the Redemption in 2033 be undertaken together by all the Christian denominations of the world, rediscovering the gift and the call to be witnesses to the Risen One,” he said.
The pope’s remarks build on a vision he laid out during his first international trip to Turkey and Lebanon in November when he told Christian leaders in Turkey that he hoped they might gather in Jerusalem in 2033 to mark the anniversary together — specifically in the Cenacle, the traditional site of the Last Supper, and which is also venerated as the site of Pentecost, according to the Holy See Press Office.
Pope Leo pointed to last year’s commemoration of the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea as an example of an anniversary that was marked jointly by Catholics, Orthodox and other Christian communities.