Archbishop Fisichella’s Jubilee message to deacons: “Let it be an opportunity to speak to the world about the Hope that does not disappoint”

“If we want to take up the challenge of evangelization in our day, we need to know how to dress the language of faith in the clothes of hope. The Jubilee is a great opportunity to make this happen”. With these words, the Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, addressed the more than two hundred permanent deacons gathered in Assisi in his introductory remarks to the 29th National Convention promoted by the Diaconate Community in Italy.

The event, which is also open to bishops, priests, religious and lay people, was held from 5 to 8 August 2024 in the city of Saint Francis, and was organized in collaboration with the Dicastery for Evangelization and the Laudato Si’ Movement. The theme of the event was “Deacons as prophets and sowers of hope”, in preparation for the Holy Year 2025, during which, a special Jubilee of Deacons will be held from 21 to 23 February.

In his speech, Archbishop Fisichella first focused on the term “prophecy”, a word which he described as “full of great meaning and able to best explain the ministry that deacons are called to carry out during the Jubilee of hope”. The Archbishop said that prophets are called "to offer comfort, to enkindle and nourish the hope that allows the community to see a way out, a solution to its difficulties and its moment of suffering," because prophets can "speak to the heart" (cf. 1 Cor 14:25), and indicate "the way to follow to fully understand the meaning of lived faith".

All Christians, then, have the "responsibility" to "keep hope alive" especially during these months that separate us from the opening of the Holy Door, and throughout the Jubilee next year. At the present time, he said, "scientific progress and technology fill our daily conversations with hope (...) but the hopes that we make our own every day, unfortunately, can easily lead to disappointment;  they are often shattered because they are impossible to realize." However, the Archbishop added, "the disappointment that follows every false illusion becomes the useful and necessary tool to direct our gaze towards what real Hope offers (...) when Hope is understood as a free call that comes from God's revelation". Hence the title of the Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee 2025, Spes non confundit, or "Hope does not disappoint".

"Christian hope, therefore, is the certainty of the fulfillment of God's promise. True hope does not disappoint … this is the message that comes from Paul's theology and that the next Jubilee will emphasise - a specific idea to reach the minds and hearts of all believers". The Jubilee Year will be a chance, for all Christians, to be tangible signs of hope. "It is not a minor commitment. Scrolling through the indications and appeals in the Bull, one comes across a commitment to Christian testimony, and that is not something easy. In a somewhat provocative manner, I have reiterated several times that it is very easy to walk through the Holy Door, but much more demanding to live the Jubilee by creating signs of hope in our daily lives". In this case, concluded Archbishop Fisichella before celebrating Mass, evangelization "does not focus on faith and charity first, but makes hope its ‘first announcement’.

“As Pope Francis writes in the Bull, ‘May the power of hope fill our days, as we await with confidence the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and glory, now and forever’ (n. 25).

“It is a heartfelt invitation for all of us to never let ourselves be robbed of hope, in any controversy or difficulty. An invitation to be ‘strong’ - to offer the world the testimony of hope that does not disappoint.”

The next appointment for all the deacons of Italy and the world to come together is in Rome for the Jubilee dedicated to them, in February 2025.