As Jubilee Year of Hope concludes, bishops in Hong Kong and Guangzhou urge Catholics to become active “messengers of hope” amid societal challenges.
Newsroom (02/12/2025 Gaudium Press ) With the universal Jubilee Year of Hope drawing to a close, Catholic bishops in mainland China and Hong Kong have released Advent 2025 pastoral letters that place the theological virtue of hope at the heart of Christian life, calling the faithful to embody and transmit hope in a wounded world.
Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-yan, Bishop of Hong Kong, opened his five-chapter letter by declaring: “The Jubilee Year of Hope is coming to an end. But hope itself does not end. And hope is the spirit of Advent.” Looking ahead, he announced that 2026 will mark the diocese’s 80th anniversary under the theme “Messengers of Hope.” A diocesan Jubilee Year will begin on December 8, 2025 — the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception — and run through 2026, culminating in a 2027 diocesan assembly focused on synodal dialogue “in the Holy Spirit.”
Drawing on recent papal teaching — including Pope Francis’ encyclicals Laudato Si’ and Dilexit Nos, as well as Pope Leo XIV’s Dilexi Te — Cardinal Chow stressed that “when the love of God works within us, we are both recipients of hope and called to be mediators of that hope: we truly become messengers of hope.” He urged the faithful to live this vocation “not for ourselves, but for one another, especially for those who are struggling and whose hope is weakened.”
“Our world needs the people of God to show these people in need the authenticity of love and hope,” the cardinal wrote. “If they allow themselves to be embraced by love and hope until they rediscover the regenerative power of God, then their wounds can be healed.”
Across the border, Bishop Joseph Gan Junqiu of Guangzhou issued a similarly urgent Advent message, warning Christians against withdrawing from reality or falling into lethargy and resignation. Instead, the baptized must display “passion for life” and sow “the hope of eternal life” among the lonely and discouraged.
Bishop Gan described Advent as opening “a path of hope, a path of sanctification” that “sanctifies our lives and will enable us, upon Christ’s return, to enter into eternal bliss together with Lazarus, who once endured the sufferings of this world.” Active waiting for Christ’s Second Coming, he explained, is the force “that leads Christians to sanctification,” uniting them in hope with Mary, the Mother of Hope.
The parallel emphases from Hong Kong and Guangzhou underscore a shared conviction: in an era marked by social fragmentation and spiritual fatigue, hope is not a passive sentiment but a missionary imperative that heals both individuals and society.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Fides News
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