New series - ‘Council Notebooks’ - published in English

The Indian Bishops' Conference has published the ‘Council Notebooks’ series in English. The 35 volumes which have been prepared for the 2025 Jubilee, are being published by ATS Publishers India, and will help the English-speaking faithful of 2023 to delve deeper into the documents of the Second Vatican Council - as requested by Pope Francis. The series was presented during the last meeting of the Executive Committee of the Asian Bishops' Conference, at the end of September.

“The purpose of the Jubilee Year of 2025 is threefold: to celebrate Jesus, to celebrate the Church and to celebrate our faith,” explained His Eminence Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão, Archbishop of Goa-Daman, the President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, during the books’ presentation. He added: “In the Jubilee of 2025, our Holy Mother Church invites us to be 'Pilgrims of Hope', continuing to build communion and promote participation. As we prepare to pass through the Holy Doors of Rome, we should also enter the doors of places such as hospitals, orphanages, shelters for the destitute, prisons, refugee camps, and so on, where hope is weak."

“A special thanks is due to the Indian Bishops’ Conference,” said the pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, “for the concern with which they have welcomed the ‘Council Notebooks’ series. It is a clear sign of great pastoral care on the part of the bishops which will bear much good fruit in making better known the teaching of Vatican II."

The Church in India will inaugurate the journey towards the Jubilee on November 26, 2023, the solemnity of Christ the King, by presenting the logo of the Holy Year, promoting the re-reading of the treasures of the four great Constitutions of the Second Vatican Council and launching a renewal of prayer. Local church communities in the country are also involved in organizing pilgrimages to Rome throughout the Holy Year.

The Indian Bishops’ Conference underlined that it will actively participate in the preparations for the 2025 Jubilee, integrating the themes into their synodal path and pastoral planning efforts which aim to discern God's plan for the Church in India.