VATICAN CITY (RNS) — On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis will open the first Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica, inaugurating the Jubilee year. This important anniversary, celebrated every 25 years, will mark an opportunity for the Catholic Church to celebrate the faith of its 1.3 billion believers around the globe.
With a papal bull in March, called “Spes non Confundit” (Hope does not disappoint), Francis announced that the year 2025 will be centered on the theme “Pilgrims of Hope,” at a time when the world is confronted with many wars, a worsening climate crisis and the ongoing aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pope will open the Holy Doors, which are usually sealed, in the major churches in Rome, including St. John Lateran and St. Mary Major. He will also open a door in the Rebibbia prison in Rome, a sign of repentance and mercy for convicts. The U.S. Cardinal James Michael Harvey will open the door at Peter and Paul outside the Walls, where he is archpriest.
The most important aspect of the Jubilee-year pilgrimage to Rome is the granting of plenary indulgence to all who cross the Holy Doors, meaning the forgiveness of sins for faithful or on behalf of loved ones. The pope’s plenary indulgence allows believers who have gone to confession, received Communion, prayed for the pope and renounced sin to forgo punishment in purgatory, according to Catholic tradition.
“The indulgence is a way of discovering the unlimited nature of God’s mercy. Not by chance, for the ancients, the terms “mercy” and “indulgence” were interchangeable, as expressions of the fullness of God’s forgiveness, which knows no bounds,” Francis wrote in the papal bull.
Faithful coming to Rome will also have the opportunity to take part in special pilgrimages organized by the Vatican: the traditional pilgrimages of the seven churches, a pilgrimage dedicated to the holy sites tied to European countries and one specializing in visiting churches dedicated to women patrons of Europe and doctors of the church.
A view of St. Peter’s Square as Pope Francis canonizes 14 new saints during a solemn Mass at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
What is a Jubilee?
The word Jubilee comes from the Hebrew Bible, and in the book of Leviticus it refers to an event occurring every 50 years, where slaves would be freed, and debts would be forgiven. The custom resurfaced in 1300, when Pope Boniface VIII decided to evoke the ancient rite in light of the growing number of pilgrims visiting Rome and granting “the most full pardon of all their sins” in his papal bull. The requirements for the pardon of sins and the occurrence of the Jubilee years has changed over centuries and papacies.
In 1343, Pope Clement VI decided the Jubilee would be celebrated every 50 years, while Pope Urban VI announced the Jubilee would also occur every 33 years to mark the lifespan and death of Christ. The current practice celebrates an ordinary Jubilee every 25 years, but there can also be extraordinary Jubilees if needed, such as Pope Francis’ extraordinary Jubilee of mercy in 2015, which also celebrated the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second Vatican Council.
The early Jubilee pilgrims faced many hardships in their journey, some of them due to the unhealthy and cramped conditions of late Medieval Rome. Frequent outbreaks of plague decimated pilgrims, Roman citizens and Catholic prelates, and in 1450, a tragic accident on the Sant’Angelo Bridge in Rome led to 200 people being trampled to death.
The enormous influx of pilgrims also brought great wealth to the city of Rome and the papacy, which popes used to transform the run-down ancient capital of the Roman Empire to a model of Renaissance architecture and art. By the time of the Jubilee of the year 1500, the city had gradually transformed with the creation of the Vatican library, the rebuilding of the papal fortress of Castel Sant’Angelo and the creation of the Vatican palace.
Pope Alexander VI established in 1500 many of the customs for Jubilee years, deciding, for instance, that the doors of the four main Basilicas in Rome would be opened for pilgrims to visit and that the pope would personally open the door in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Jubilees have occasionally been the source of scandal. Some faithful were dismayed by the practice of selling indulgences or allowing followers to gain the same benefits of the pilgrimage by embarking on a crusade. The city of Rome also grew a large business based on the welcoming of pilgrims. Jubilees could not be celebrated at times of great peril for the Catholic institution, such as the rise of Napoleon.
FILE – Pope Francis pushes open the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, formally launching the Holy Year of Mercy, at the Vatican, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
What is a Holy Door?
While there are four main Holy Doors in Rome, popes have allowed parishes and basilicas around the globe to open their own doors on special occasions. Pope Francis has decided that only the Holy Doors in the Roman Basilicas will be opened for this Jubilee year. Pope Francis will open the door of Justice in St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 24.
The Holy Doors are located within the basilicas and are ceremoniously sealed shut from the inside at the end of each Jubilee year, to only be opened again at the official ceremony for the start of the next Jubilee. In the past, popes used a silver hammer to open the doors, which were sealed with concrete that had been spread by a silver trowel. The crumbling of the doors would often cause injuries to bystanders, so Pope John Paul II decided in the Great Jubilee of 2000 that the popes would push the door open with their hands.
The rite of “recognition,” or examination, occurs before the opening of the Holy Doors, when workmen hammer the concrete walls and extract the ceremonial key, which was also sealed at the end of the previous Jubilee.
How many visitors are expected to come to Rome?
The National Tourist Research Institute in Italy expects 35 million pilgrims to visit the Vatican and Rome over the course of the 2025 Jubilee year. In his bull, Francis encouraged faithful to come to Rome, writing that “setting out on a journey is traditionally associated with our human quest for meaning in life.”
The city of Rome has invested 4.8 billion euros for 600 projects to restore and modernize the capital. The Italian tourism agency expects an income of 17 billion euros in Rome alone. Famous works of art throughout the Eternal City, including the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona and the angels adorning Ponte Sant’Angelo have been repaired and cleaned. The masterpieces of St. Peter’s Basilica have also been restored, including the Baldachin by Renaissance artist Gianlorenzo Bernini and Michelangelo’s Pietà.
Joe Long, the founder and managing director of the pilgrimage organization ProRome, said bookings for pilgrimages to Rome have essentially doubled for the year 2025 compared to 2023. “Pilgrims are going because this is a universal event. It’s a Catholic event,” he told RNS in an interview on Dec. 18, adding that pilgrims ask to walk through the Holy Doors and to have the opportunity to see the pope.
“Every group — it’s not whether you’re a traditional Catholic, whether you’re from the left or the right end of the spectrum, it doesn’t matter — everyone loves to find mercy,” he said.
Long also said to expect fees and prices around the city to surge as local government and tourism companies look to make a profit in the Jubilee year.
What will be the central events of the Jubilee year?
Beyond liturgies and papal audiences, the Jubilee will be marked by a number of special days.
January will host the Jubilee of the World of Communications, followed by a celebration of armed forces, artists, deacons and musicians.
On Sept. 6, there will be a special pilgrimage to the Jesuit church in Rome, the Church of Gesù, organized by Catholic LGBTQ+ outreach organization Jonathan’s Tent in collaboration with other LGBTQ+ advocacy groups. “Everyone is welcome,” said the organizer of the Jubilee, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, who heads the Vatican Department for Evangelization, in reply to backlash for the initiative.
The year will also mark important ecumenical events, focusing on fostering relations between the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations. The Jubilee marks the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea, the first Christian ecumenical council that proposed a shared date for Easter celebration. Incidentally, the dates for Easter will align in 2025 for Catholics and Orthodox churches despite differing liturgical calendars.
The Jubilee will especially cater to young Catholics, with a day dedicated to adolescents in April and young people in July. The official mascot of the Jubilee, Luce (the Italian world for light), is a manga-inspired character with a yellow raincoat and muddied boots.
Which saints will be canonized during the Jubilee?
It’s customary to canonize important saints during Jubilee years to allow the largest number of faithful to take part in the celebrations. This year will see the canonization of two beloved saints who speak especially to young people.
Carlo Acutis, known as the Millennial Saint, will be canonized during the Jubilee World Day of Adolescents on April 27. Born in Italy in 1991, Acutis died from leukemia in 2006 and is revered for his love for the Eucharist and his desire to promote the faith among his peers.
On Aug. 5, Pier Giorgio Frassati, who was born in 1901 and died at the age of 24, will become a saint during the World Jubilee for Young People. A prominent member of the lay movement Catholic Action, he dedicated his life to helping the poor despite being born from privilege.
While the Holy Doors will be closed on Dec. 28, 2025, the Jubilee year will officially end on Jan. 6, 2026, when Catholics celebrate the feast of the epiphany. Pope Francis has already announced there will be another Jubilee celebration in 2033 to mark the 2000th anniversary of Christ’s death.