OPENING OF HOLY DOOR ROME JUBILEE 2025

Towards the Jubilee: the opening of the Holy Door

The Holy Year is upon us and there is much anticipation among the faithful who will travel to Rome for this spiritual and religious event announced by Pope Francis. The Jubilee is a special year of grace , in which the Catholic Church will offer the faithful the possibility of asking for plenary indulgence, or the remission of sins for themselves or for deceased relatives. “Pilgrims of Hope” is the theme of the Jubilee 2025: the reference is to the millions of faithful who will flock to Rome, but also to those who will celebrate this year in all the Churches of the world.

For Catholics, it will be a year full of events and moments of prayer and communion, but one aspect is particularly felt and awaited by all pilgrims, namely the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter's . It is the most touching and most peculiar event of this Jubilee period. According to Christian tradition, the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica - one of the papal basilicas that enjoy the highest rank within the Roman Catholic Church and which are characterized by a holy door and a papal altar - will be opened next December 24, 2024 , thus symbolizing the official beginning of the Jubilee.

After St. Peter's, the Holy Doors will be opened in the other three papal basilicas in Rome. On Sunday 29 December the Pontiff will open the Holy Door of the Basilica of St. John Lateran , which on 9 November this year celebrates the 1700th anniversary of its dedication. A to follow , on January 1, 2025, the Holy Door of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore will be opened. Finally, on Sunday, January 5, it will be the turn of the Holy Door of Saint Paul Outside the Walls . These last three Holy Doors will be closed by Sunday, December 28 of the same year. The one of Saint Peter's Basilica will be the last to be closed, on January 6, 2026. A novelty of this Holy Year will be the opening of a Holy Door in prison . Furthermore, a crucial point of Pope Francis' Bull is the request to governments for amnesties or pardons of sentences for prisoners.

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