Understanding the Jubilee Year
In Catholic tradition, the Jubilee Year is a special time of forgiveness, renewal, and pilgrimage, usually held every 25 years. The Vatican becomes a global meeting place, drawing people from all walks of life. This year (2025) the Vatican welcomes people from around the world to participate in this extraordinary event. For our Kairos groups who’ve experienced this Jubilee Year, it’s been a once-in-a-generation moment of history, faith, and culture.
Kairos Moment
On one of our most memorable Jubilee trips this year, on of our school groups walked into St. Peter’s Basilica for the first time and stood in awe before Michelangelo’s Pietà. Afterwards, we visited the Sistine Chapel, where students craned their necks to take in the ceiling that changed art forever.
And as if that weren’t enough, it was also Italy’s national birthday, complete with air force jets practicing their colorful flyovers for the big parade, which we caught during our tour of the Colosseum.
By the end of our time together, the group had seen Italy not as a checklist of sites, but as a living classroom. The combination of guided exploration, cultural immersion, and unplanned surprises made this trip an experience they’ll carry for years. And for us, directing them through these streets and stories was a privilege: one that reminded me why educational travel matters.
