Malaysia’s Jubilee Year of Hope 2025 Closes with Thanksgiving and Renewed Commitment

From cathedrals to parish churches across the country, the nine Catholic dioceses in Malaysia marked the close of the Jubilee Year 2025 on Sunday, December 28, through solemn Masses and thanksgiving celebrations. The closing event was held in conjunction with the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

Catholics gathered across their respective dioceses for the closing Masses, offering thanksgiving for the spiritual graces received during the Jubilee Year, celebrated under the theme Pilgrims of Hope. The concluding liturgies echoed a clear call to carry the spirit of hope, mercy, and charity beyond the Jubilee, into daily life, relationships, and service to others.

In every diocese, the Jubilee’s conclusion was marked by deeply symbolic rituals, from recessional processions carrying the Jubilee Cross to prayers of thanksgiving and blessings invoking ongoing renewal for both the Church and the wider society. In communion with the universal Church, the Holy Doors opened for the Jubilee were solemnly closed, a powerful sign that the grace-filled year had formally drawn to an end, even as its fruits are called to endure.

In the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur, the Jubilee Year drew to a close with a solemn Rite of Closing Mass at the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist. The celebration brought together clergy, religious, and parishioners from across the archdiocese, filling the cathedral with a sense of unity, prayerful devotion, and joyful thanksgiving for a year marked by grace and hope.

As the celebration unfolded, the atmosphere was imbued with a deeper sense of meaning, a shared moment of gratitude for a year shaped by renewal, restoration, release, and a heartfelt return to God. Lived as a collective journey of faith, the Jubilee found its culmination in the many spiritual initiatives embraced by the archdiocese, notably pilgrimages that rekindled faith and strengthened the bonds of communion among the faithful.

Lived as a shared pilgrimage of faith, the Jubilee journey found its finest expression in the many spiritual initiatives of the archdiocese, especially in the pilgrimages that touched hearts, deepened faith, and drew the faithful closer together in communion.

The live-streamed event witnessed Archbishop Julian Leow Beng Kim, together with Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Wojciech Zaluski, presiding at the altar. The liturgy was concelebrated by 11 priests of the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur, assisted by two newly ordained deacons, with Emeritus Archbishop Murphy Pakiam also present. Faithful from parishes throughout the archdiocese filled the cathedral for the historic celebration, which was followed by a fellowship gathering.

“One truth has shone with particular clarity throughout this Jubilee Year,” Archbishop Julian Leow said. “The story of Jesus is never finished; it is always ready to be retold, lived, and witnessed anew, through our parishes, our pilgrimages, and the countless acts of faith and love in our daily lives.

“We are called to walk alongside our brothers and sisters, to listen and to speak hope, to offer simple gestures of charity wherever we go. In a world often shadowed by fear and suffering, our mission is to be bearers of light, mercy, and hope, ensuring that no one is left behind in the journey of faith.”

He called on the faithful to walk together in solidarity, to listen with open hearts, to speak words of hope, and to practice simple acts of love wherever they find themselves, embracing diversity while becoming agents of transformation in their homes, parishes, dioceses, and wider society.

Acknowledging the crises and hardships that afflict the world, Archbishop Julian reminded the congregation that Christians are called to be steadfast bearers of hope, even in the darkest hours. Highlighting the plight of migrants and refugees forced from their homes, he emphasised that for those who follow Christ, their ultimate and permanent home lies in heaven.

He urged the faithful to carry Christ to the margins, to the poor, the marginalised, the differently-abled, and the young, by proclaiming the greatest story ever told and living witness to the life of the greatest person who ever lived: Jesus Christ.

Concluding Celebrations in Other Dioceses

In the Archdiocese of Kuching, the closing Mass was celebrated at St Joseph’s Cathedral and presided over by Archbishop Emeritus John Ha. The liturgy drew clergy, religious, and lay faithful, who reflected on the Jubilee as a year of spiritual pilgrimage, reconciliation, and communal renewal.

Prayers of thanksgiving were offered for the fruits of the Jubilee Year, particularly for deeper faith, healing of relationships, and greater solidarity among communities.

The Diocese of Penang marked the occasion with a multilingual closing Mass, reflecting the cultural and linguistic diversity of the local Church. The celebration was followed by a communal gathering, during which parishioners and volunteers were thanked for their service and commitment throughout the Jubilee Year.

Church leaders used the occasion to encourage the faithful to continue living out the Jubilee spirit through concrete acts of compassion, service, and outreach, especially towards the poor, the vulnerable, and those on the margins of society.

Over at the Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu, the closing celebrations featured a procession from the parish hall to the cathedral, led by the Jubilee Cross. The procession symbolised the Church’s journey as a pilgrim people, called to bring hope into the wider community. The Mass that followed highlighted the Holy Family as a model of faith, trust, and resilience amid life’s challenges.

The service was presided over by Archbishop John Wong at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Kota Kinabalu. In his homily, the prelate said:  “With hearts full of gratitude, we give thanks to God for a truly meaningful conclusion to the Jubilee Year of Hope. It was a profound honour for Sacred Heart Cathedral, Kota Kinabalu, to be chosen as the venue for the closing mass, marking the closing of the Door of Hope in our Archdiocese.”

This sacred moment united clergy, parish leaders, and parishioners across the Archdiocese as one pilgrim people of hope. Parishioner Raphael Michael, speaking by phone to Radio Veritas Asia, said: “Though the Jubilee Year has come to a close, the call to live as Pilgrims of Hope continues in our daily lives.

“We must carry forward the spirit of hope, faith, and unity into the years ahead,” Raphael said.

The Malacca Johore Diocese (MJD) concluded its Jubilee Year of Hope 2025 with a grand Closing Mass on Sunday, December 28, 2025, at the Cathedral of The Sacred Heart of Jesus in Johor Bahru, featuring adoration, Benediction, and fellowship with a shared meal, celebrating faith and pilgrimage throughout the special year. The special service was presided over by Bishop Bernard Paul.

Year of Grace

Proclaimed by Pope Francis in the papal bull “Spes non confundit”,  “Hope does not disappoint”, the Jubilee Year stretched from Christmas Eve 2024 to Epiphany 2026, a bridge of prayer and pilgrimage, of mercy and renewal.

As the Holy Doors close and the liturgies draw to a gentle end, the spirit of the Jubilee lingers in the whispered prayers of the faithful, in the kindness offered to neighbours and strangers alike, and in hearts now more attuned to hope, mercy, and charity.

It is a solemn reminder that though the year may pass, the story of God’s love continues to be written in each life, and that hope, ever faithful, never disappoints.