The Catholic Institute of West Africa (CIWA) has called on Nigerian Catholics to move beyond mere ceremonies and turn the Jubilee of Hope into a living revolution of mercy, justice, and renewal that transforms lives and communities. Delivering a paper titled “Jubilee: A Call to Renewed Hope” on behalf of CIWA at the National Jubilee of Hope in Elele, Sr. Maureen Uloma Dike, DCPB, said the Jubilee Year, as declared by Pope Francis in Spes non confundit (“Hope does not disappoint”), is “not a ritual but a radical invitation to conversion, to mercy, to social and spiritual reset.”
“Hope is not shallow optimism,” she said. “It is the confident trust that God’s promises never fail — even when everything around us collapses. Yet today, violence, corruption, and social injustice have numbed many hearts. Jubilee resounds like a trumpet blast saying: lift up your hearts, for hope can be reborn.” Sr. Dike urged Catholics to live the Jubilee by performing concrete acts of mercy — freeing debtors, waiving hospital bills, reconciling broken families, funding education for poor children, visiting prisoners, and fighting systemic injustice.
“This Jubilee must smell like hospital disinfectant, like prison corridors, like markets where women cry over debts, like the hands of youth planting trees,” she declared. “If all we do is attend beautiful liturgies and processions, the Jubilee will remain sterile.” She proposed fifteen “living signs of Jubilee,” including dioceses offering free medical outreach, parishes sponsoring education for indigent children, Catholic lawyers defending the voiceless, business owners forgiving debts, and parish councils publishing transparent accounts to model integrity.
“If every Catholic pledged one concrete act of mercy every week,” she said, “within a year, Nigeria would see fewer school dropouts, fewer prisoners unjustly detained, families reconciled, and renewed trust in public life. Renewal would cease to be an idea — it would become visible, touchable, lived reality.” Sr. Dike concluded with a call to action: “Jubilee is not in Rome alone. Jubilee is here — in your market stall, in your office, in your heart. Personal conversion plus communal action equals national renewal.”
