This special event, granted by the Holy See, commemorates the transfer of the Virgen del Rocío to her town of Almonte and will extend until May 31, 2027, Pentecost Sunday. The opening ceremony took place before the monument of the Virgin's canonical coronation, presided over by the Bishop of Huelva, Santiago Gómez Sierra.
The act began with the reading of a letter to the rocieros by the secretary of the Hermandad Matriz, Manuel Simón Arangüete, who invoked the Virgin's intercession for this time to be one of penance and reconciliation. Subsequently, the parish priest of Almonte, Francisco Miguel Valencia, read the decree from the Apostolic Penitentiary, granting plenary indulgence under the usual conditions.
The liturgical procession, accompanied by the Matriz's tamborilero school, proceeded to the Sanctuary. There, Bishop Santiago Gómez Sierra officiated the Eucharistic celebration. During his homily, he highlighted that the jubilee is an opportunity for grace to "start anew" and that plenary indulgence is an expression of divine mercy aimed at conversion.
The bishop emphasized the importance of looking to the Virgin Mary to understand conversion: "To know how conversion is lived, we must look to the Virgin Mary." The final prayer, to be repeated throughout the jubilee, was an invocation to Saint Mary of Rocío to guide the faithful.
This Jubilee Year, the first linked to the Virgin's transfer to Almonte, aims to be a time of spiritual renewal for devotees, who can benefit from plenary indulgence by making a pilgrimage wherever the Virgen del Rocío may be.
