Location
Monserrat
Start Date
26-6-2026 9:30 AM
End Date
26-6-2026 11:00 AM
Description
Jubilee 2025 created a framework for intensified religious mobility in Europe and beyond. According to Vatican sources, more than 33 million pilgrims participated in Jubilee-related events. Official statistics are not yet available for all Jubilee celebrations. However, data from the Jubilee of Youth indicate that between 12,000 (official registrations) and approximately 20,000 (ecclesial estimates) participants came from Poland, placing Polish pilgrims among the most numerous foreign national groups present in Rome during this event.
Focusing on the Polish case, this paper analyses pilgrimage mobility during Jubilee 2025 through a multiscalar lens. While Rome represented the most symbolic global destination, Polish pilgrimage activity extended beyond the Vatican. Significant flows were also directed towards major international shrines such as Lourdes, Fatima and Santiago de Compostela. At the same time, the Jubilee activated domestic religious mobility. In Poland, approximately 650 Jubilee churches were officially designated as sites where pilgrims could obtain the same indulgence as in Rome. These churches primarily shrines, cathedrals and selected parish churches formed a dense national network that shaped internal pilgrimage patterns. Reports from major Polish shrines indicate increased pilgrimage attendance during the Jubilee Year.
The study addresses three research questions: (1) What were the principal destinations chosen by Polish pilgrims during Jubilee 2025? (2) How was pilgrimage activity organised (parish, diocesan, community-based, individual)? (3) How did mobility patterns differ across international, national and local scales? The research applies a mixed-methods approach combining institutional statistics, diocesan reports, data from pilgrimage organisers, questionnaire surveys and spatial analysis. Preliminary findings suggest that although Rome functioned as a symbolic global centre, organised parish and diocesan pilgrimages within Poland remained dominant. From a geography of religion perspective, the Jubilee demonstrates how global religious events restructure spatial hierarchies of sacred places while reinforcing national pilgrimage networks and the interaction between global centres and local religious landscapes.
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Included in
G4) Polish Pilgrimages in the Holy Year (Jubilee 2025): Structure, Scales and Directions
Monserrat
Jubilee 2025 created a framework for intensified religious mobility in Europe and beyond. According to Vatican sources, more than 33 million pilgrims participated in Jubilee-related events. Official statistics are not yet available for all Jubilee celebrations. However, data from the Jubilee of Youth indicate that between 12,000 (official registrations) and approximately 20,000 (ecclesial estimates) participants came from Poland, placing Polish pilgrims among the most numerous foreign national groups present in Rome during this event.
Focusing on the Polish case, this paper analyses pilgrimage mobility during Jubilee 2025 through a multiscalar lens. While Rome represented the most symbolic global destination, Polish pilgrimage activity extended beyond the Vatican. Significant flows were also directed towards major international shrines such as Lourdes, Fatima and Santiago de Compostela. At the same time, the Jubilee activated domestic religious mobility. In Poland, approximately 650 Jubilee churches were officially designated as sites where pilgrims could obtain the same indulgence as in Rome. These churches primarily shrines, cathedrals and selected parish churches formed a dense national network that shaped internal pilgrimage patterns. Reports from major Polish shrines indicate increased pilgrimage attendance during the Jubilee Year.
The study addresses three research questions: (1) What were the principal destinations chosen by Polish pilgrims during Jubilee 2025? (2) How was pilgrimage activity organised (parish, diocesan, community-based, individual)? (3) How did mobility patterns differ across international, national and local scales? The research applies a mixed-methods approach combining institutional statistics, diocesan reports, data from pilgrimage organisers, questionnaire surveys and spatial analysis. Preliminary findings suggest that although Rome functioned as a symbolic global centre, organised parish and diocesan pilgrimages within Poland remained dominant. From a geography of religion perspective, the Jubilee demonstrates how global religious events restructure spatial hierarchies of sacred places while reinforcing national pilgrimage networks and the interaction between global centres and local religious landscapes.