He has formally inaugurated the Holy Year of 2025 this Christmas Eve with the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, through which more than 32 million pilgrims are expected to pass over the next year, seeking forgiveness for the sins. The Jubilee, as this great Catholic event is known, celebrated every 25 years, revives an ancient tradition of the Church, which encourages the faithful to make a pilgrimage to Rome and perform works of charity to obtain indulgence or remission of sins.
Before celebrating the Christmas Eve mass, the Pope opened and crossed the Holy Door of the basilica, which was walled up until a few days ago and is only opened during the jubilee years and which for Christians symbolizes the passage from sin to grace.
Between sacred songs and prayers in Latin, as part of a solemn rite, although simpler than in other Jubilees, and while the bells of the basilica were ringing, Francis crossed the gate in a wheelchair. The enormous door was inaugurated on Christmas 1949 and is decorated with panels that narrate biblical episodes related to sin or the expulsion of man from paradise and Jesus Christ. “The hope that is born on this night does not tolerate the indolence of the sedentary nor the laziness of those who settle for their own well-being; It does not admit the false prudence of those who do not take risks for fear of committing themselves, nor the calculation of those who only think of themselves; “It is incompatible with the quiet life of those who do not raise their voices against evil or against the injustices that are committed on the skin of the poorest,” the pontiff said in his homily. The Vatican estimates that 30,000 faithful followed the ceremony from St. Peter’s Square and 5,000 from inside the basilica.
This event, one of the most important of the Roman Catholic Church, will also function as a meter to take the pulse of this religious institution, which hopes to demonstrate its influence with the massive presence of faithful in the Italian capital. And it will also be an important source of income for the Vatican and its Museums. In addition, it will test the resistance of the Argentine pontiff, who at just turned 88 has assured that he will witness the most notable and massive events of the year, which includes a frenetic agenda full of meetings, pilgrimages, masses and audiences.
Since 1300, Catholic tradition has conceived the Holy Years as a time dedicated to consolidating faith and solidarity and indicates, among other things, that pilgrims who do certain charitable works and cross some of the Holy Doors, such as that of Saint Peter or the from other Roman basilicas, they will obtain the indulgence, which for Catholics is a kind of pardon to leave purgatory. Centuries ago the Catholic Church used to sell indulgences and precisely Martin Luther’s opposition to this practice was one of the things that inspired the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. Since the Council of Trent, which ended in 1563, the Church has not traded in indulgences, although it continues to grant them and it is an important element in the Jubilee pilgrimages.
The last ordinary Jubilee was celebrated in 2000, when the then Pope John Paul II, now considered a saint by Catholicism, inaugurated the Church of the third millennium. Francis held a special and massive event, but to a lesser extent than the ordinary one, in 2015-2016 dedicated to mercy. Next year’s will take place in a more globalized world. Francis wanted hope to be the central theme of the event and has asked, among other things, rich countries to forgive or reduce the external debt of the poorest countries for the occasion. He has also called for the extinction of the death penalty and amnesties for some prisoners.
In the bull calling for the Jubilee, Bergoglio warned that he would try to focus on the major themes of his pontificate, such as poverty, wars, the rights of migrants or the low birth rate in some countries. “If we truly want to pave a path toward peace in our world, let us commit to remedying the remote causes of injustice, settling unjust and unpayable debts, and feeding the hungry,” the Pope said.
On this occasion, for the first time in the history of the Catholic Church, on the agenda of this Jubilee, which will end on January 6, 2026, a pilgrimage is planned for September by an Italian association that deals with the LGBTIQ community and its families, who will cross the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica. This forecast has aroused mixed feelings and some criticism, on the one hand, from the ultra-conservative sector of the Church, and on the other hand, also from the LGBTIQ collective, which protests because the Vatican has not given sufficient relevance and visibility to an act “fraught with symbolism”.
The Pope’s delegate for the organization of the Jubilee, Monsignor Rino Fisichella, has tried to calm things down by confirming to the media that in the Jubilee “everyone is welcome”, and explaining that this initiative was born at the request of the association and that it is in the official general calendar, without further significance, like many others.
Although for many it is not enough, this quote, along with other measures promoted by Francis, such as the blessing, with many limitations, of homosexual couples, in some way represents a slight opening of the Church, which advances very slowly and where unity The usual measurement is the century. In the year 2000 celebration, John Paul II described the Gay Pride march that took place in Rome as an “affront” to the Jubilee. In this sense, this Holy Year will also test the openness of the Church.
Faced with such a massive event, the issue of security worries the authorities and pilgrims, especially after what last Friday caused five deaths and more than 200 injuries in Germany. The Italian Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, has assured that there are no alarm signs and that security for the event has been prepared “exhaustively.”
The mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, has explained that there will be 700 or 800 more law enforcement officers, depending on the time, deployed in Rome. The National Police, the Carabineros, the Finance Guard and the Army, together with the local Police, are already monitoring the entire red zone around San Pedro and have established mandatory routes to access San Pedro Square. They have also installed barriers around the perimeter, as well as metal detectors and anti-drone systems.
The city of Rome looks completely renewed these days, after a year of restoration and maintenance works on the main monuments and streets, especially in the city center, but also on the outskirts.
Numerous neighborhood associations have criticized the inconvenience caused to traffic and general mobility in the city by the works for the Jubilee and also the fact that it will contribute to even more congestion in the Eternal City, already suffocated by mass tourism and suffocating to residents with exorbitant prices.
