Pope Leo XIV has proclaimed a Franciscan Jubilee Year to mark 800 years since the death of St Francis of Assisi and Brisbane’s Franciscans say it is a great response to renewing peace in a troubled world, reports The Catholic Leader.

The Special Year of St Francis was inaugurated with a decree issued by the Apostolic Penitentiary of the Holy See and will run until January 2027.

Fr Stephen Bliss OFM (left) has reiterated Pope Leo’s call for us to be people of peace as the 800th anniversary year of St Francis of Assisi’s (right) death gets underway. PHOTO/IMAGE: Catholic Leader/supplied.

It will also be the first time the remains of St Francis will be publicly displayed for a month-long veneration from February 22 to March 22, 2026.

By proclaiming the Year of St Francis who passed on October 3, 1226, Pope Leo hoped “the message of peace may find a profound echo in the Church and society today”.

“In this age marked by so many seemingly interminable wars, by internal and social divisions that breed mistrust and fear, he (St Francis) continues to speak,” Pope Leo said.

“Not because he offers technical solutions but because his life points to the authentic source of peace.”

Pope Leo said the Franciscan vision of peace was not limited to relationships between human beings but embraced all of creation.

St Francis, who called the sun “brother” and the moon “sister” and recognised in every creature a reflection of divine beauty, reminded us that peace must extend to the entire family of Creation, Pope Leo said.

This awareness resonated with urgency, particularly now when our common home was threatened.

Fr Stephen Bliss, the Provincial Minister for the Franciscan Friars in Australia, reiterated Pope Leo’s comments “calling us all to be messengers of peace, to live authentically as peacemakers”.

“We’ve got to resurrect that discovery of what peace is in people’s hearts.”

Fr Bliss said people could achieve it by their actions while participating in parishes and Church communities, schools, family and workplaces.

“When we have peace there, then that peace will expand. We have to be people of peace,” he said.

“That’s what St Francis did, and that’s what Christ is calling us to, to find peace in the ordinariness of life, but also in the messiness of life.”

When we bring our struggles and turmoil to prayer and surrender that to God, “that is a step towards encountering the peace of Christ”.

People could create or follow the many rituals in the Church to bring themselves closer to peace. For Fr Bliss, it was lighting a candle at the end of the day and reflecting.

The Year of St Francis will also be a time for people to obtain a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions of confession, Communion, and prayer for the Pope’s intentions.

The Apostolic Penitentiary issued the decree for this indulgence with the approval of Pope Leo.

It can be received by visiting any Franciscan church or place of worship, joining the Jubilee celebrations, or spending time in prayer and reflection.

People who are elderly or sick and cannot leave home can also receive it by joining in the Jubilee celebrations spiritually and offering their prayers to God.

St Francis’s remains were hidden for centuries and rediscovered in 1818.

His tomb lies beneath the Basilica at the Sacro Convento in Assisi.

The relics will be moved from the crypt and be placed at the papal altar in the lower church of the Basilica.

Many pilgrims are expected to visit and venerate them. There will be a free and mandatory online booking system created for reservations.

This is an abbreviated form of an article by Kymberlee Gomes published in The Catholic Leader, the publication of the Archdiocese of Brisbane.