Pope proclaims Year of Saint Francis, with special plenary indulgences

January 17, 2026

Pope Leo XIV has proclaimed a Year of Saint Francis to mark the 800th anniversary of the death of the beloved saint.

The year began on January 10, 2026, and will conclude on January 10, 2027, the Holy See Press Office announced on January 16, as it made public a decree of the Apostolic Penitentiary.

“While the fruits of grace of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025, which has just ended, in which we have all been urged to become pilgrims of that hope that does not disappoint (cf. Rm 5:5), are still present and effective, a new occasion for jubilation and sanctification is added to it as an ideal continuation: the eighth centenary of the happy passing of Saint Francis of Assisi from earthly life to his heavenly homeland (3 October 1226),” stated the decree, signed by the major penitentiary and regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary.

The decree continued:

Between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, in an era of so-called holy wars, relaxed morals and misguided religious fervor, “a sun was born into the world”: Francis, who, as the son of a wealthy merchant, became poor and humble, a true alter Christus [other Christ] on earth, providing the world with tangible examples of evangelical life and a real image of Christian perfection.

Our times are not very different from those in which Francis lived, and precisely in light of this, his teachings are perhaps even more valid and understandable today. When Christian charity languishes, ignorance spreads like bad habits, and those who extol harmony among peoples do so more out of selfishness than out of a sincere Christian spirit; when the virtual takes precedence over the real, social discord and violence are part of everyday life, and peace becomes more uncertain and distant every day; may this Year of Saint Francis urge us all, each according to our own possibilities, to imitate the Poverello [little poor man] of Assisi, to mold ourselves as much as possible on the model of Christ, to not let the intentions of the Holy Year just passed be in vain: may the hope that saw us as pilgrims now be transformed into zeal and fervor of active charity.

The Apostolic Penitentiary, the curial institution entrusted with the granting of indulgences (Praedicate Evangelium, n. 193), decreed that a plenary indulgence will be granted under the usual conditions to any of the faithful who

with a heart detached from sin, participate in the Year of Saint Francis by visiting, in the form of a pilgrimage, any Franciscan conventual church or place of worship anywhere in the world dedicated to Saint Francis or connected to him for any reason, and there devoutly follow the Jubilee rites or spend at least a reasonable period of time in pious meditation and raise prayers to God so that, following the example of Saint Francis, feelings of Christian charity towards their neighbors and authentic vows of harmony and peace among peoples may spring forth in their hearts, concluding with the Our Father, the Creed and invocations to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Clare and all the Saints of the Franciscan Family.

The Apostolic Penitentiary also decreed:

The elderly, the sick and those who take care of them, and all those who are unable to leave their homes for serious reasons may also obtain a Plenary Indulgence, provided they detach themselves from any sin and intend to fulfil the three usual conditions as soon as possible, if they unite themselves spiritually to the jubilee celebrations of the Year of Saint Francis, offering to the Merciful God their prayers, the pains or sufferings of their lives.

On January 10, Pope Leo and the leaders of six Franciscan communities marked the beginning of the 800th anniversary year of St. Francis of Assisi’s death: the Pope with a letter, the Franciscans with a ceremony in Assisi. The Franciscan leaders also released a letter on St. Francis and his spiritual legacy.

On January 10, the Pope also appointed a scholar of medieval Franciscan history to be the new bishop of Assisi.

 

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Further information:

• Decree of the Apostolic Penitentiary on the occasion of the Eighth Centenary of the death of Saint Francis of Assisi, by which a special Jubilee Year is proclaimed, with associated Plenary Indulgences , 16.01.2026
• Franciscans, Pope Leo mark beginning of 800th anniversary year of St. Francis of Assisi’s death (CWN, 1/10/26)
• Franciscan leaders release ‘Seeds for Eternal Life,’ on St. Francis and his spiritual legacy (CWN, 1/11/26)
• Specialist in medieval Franciscan history named bishop of Assisi (CWN, 1/12/26)