2026 Is the Year of St Francis

Pope Leo XIV has proclaimed 2026 as a special Jubilee Year of Saint Francis in celebration of the eighth centenary of the death of St Francis of Assisi.

As part  of the global Franciscan family OFSGB are delighted to highlight this special year of St Francis and encourage the living out of Franciscan values like peace, poverty, and care for creation, offering indulgences and supporting special events like the first public display of his relics in Assisi to foster spiritual renewal.   

The grace of this special year is also extended to all the faithful without distinction who, with their spirits removed from sin, visit in the form of a pilgrimage any Franciscan conventual church or place of worship dedicated to St. Francis in any part of the world. The elderly, the sick and those who for serious reasons cannot leave home will also be able to obtain the plenary indulgence by spiritually joining the Jubilee celebrations and offering their prayers, pains or sufferings to God.   In support of this opportunity we draw attention to the local walking pilgrimages to churches dedicated to Francis compiled by our friends at Pilgrimways.   You can see these at Churches of St Francis of Assisi

Therefore, the Jubilee is an opportunity for the faithful to rekindle their faith, strengthen their relationship with God and with the community of the Church.

Conditions for receiving the Indulgence:

(for oneself or for the deceased)

• Sacramental confession to be in God’s grace (in the eight days before or after);
• Participation in Mass and  Eucharistic Communion;
• To visit in the form of a pilgrimage any Franciscan conventual church or place of worship dedicated to St. Francis anywhere in the world, where one renews one’s profession of faith, through the recitation of the Creed, to reaffirm one’s Christian identity;
• The recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, to reaffirm the dignity of children of God, received in Baptism;
• To pray for the intentions of the Holy Father, to reaffirm belonging to the Church, whose foundation and visible centre of unity is the Roman Pontiff.

Therefore, the Jubilee is an opportunity for the faithful to rekindle their faith, strengthen their relationship with God and with the community of the Church.

In this Plenary Indulgence Year of St Francis 2026, may all the faithful be richly blessed with grace, reconciliation, and the peace of Christ, after the example of St Francis.