‍

In this Jubilee Year, the 12th annual “24 Hours for the Lord,” a Lenten initiative of prayer and reconciliation introduced by Pope Francis, will be celebrated in dioceses around the world. As in previous years, the event will take place on the eve of the Fourth Sunday of Lent, from Friday 28 March to Saturday 29 March.

This year, within the Jubilee of 2025, dedicated to Hope, the motto chosen by the Holy Father is taken from the words of the Psalmist, “You are my hope” (Ps. 71:5).

In the words of the Psalmist we hear the resounding assurance that must dwell in the heart of every believer in the God of Jesus Christ and that is well explained by the Apostle: “Christ Jesus, our hope” (1 Tim. 1:1). The love of God who always wants to come toward us and give us the grace of his forgiveness and mercy gives rise to hope in us as a gift of the Holy Spirit. In fact, forgiveness is the sign of love, its culmination, because it is offered to us as a free gift that allows us to live a new, “merciful” life, as Pope Francis says.

24 Hours for the Lord bears witness to precisely that. The purpose of the event is to put the sacrament of reconciliation back at the center of the pastoral life of the Church, and therefore of our communities, our parishes, and all ecclesial realities. This is the core of the Gospel message: the Mercy of God, which gives us the certainty that before the Lord no one will find a judge, but rather will find a father who welcomes him, consoles him and also shows him the way to renewal. Therefore, as Pope Francis stated, “[m]ercy gives rise to joy, because our hearts are opened to the hope of a new life” (Misericordia et misera, No. 3).

The Dicastery for Evangelization suggests that on the evening of Friday 28 March, and throughout the entire day of Saturday 29 March, it would be worth considering having an extraordinary opening of churches, offering the possibility of access to Confessions, preferably in the context of Eucharistic Adoration. As always, the event could begin on Friday evening with a Liturgy of the Word to prepare the faithful for Confession, and conclude with the celebration of anticipated Sunday Mass on Saturday afternoon

‍

The Dicastery has produced a Pastoral Handbook to accompany the event, including a suggested form for a Liturgy of the Word with Confessions. You can click the button below to download it.