VIDEO Pope Francis Opens the Holy Door to Begin the Jubilee Year of Hope for 2025 - 9 Things to Know!
.png)
Pope Francis opened the Holy Door (sometimes called a portal) of Saint Peter's Basilica thereby officially inaugurating the 2025 Jubilee of Hope. He reassured during his Christmas evening Mass that the Christ Child of Bethlehem offers the world infinite hope and joy. This is one of five Holy Doors to be opened.
1. As Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of Saint Peter's Basilica, the evening of 24 December 2024, he officially opened the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope. It was 7:17 pm when Pope Francis, in his wheelchair, symbolically knocked on the door, which opened before him. The Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica was last closed on November 20, 2015, completing the Jubilee of Mercy.
2. The liturgical gesture of the Door's opening at the start of the Christmas Eve Mass, as explained in the papal bull for the Jubilee Spes non confundit, the Pope inaugurated the Ordinary Jubilee, a historic event which takes place every 25 years.
3. The Ordinary Jubilee will conclude with the closing of the same Holy Door on 6 January 2026, the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord.
4. To display the universal nature of the people of God, 54 faithful from around the world, including children and people with disabilities, went through the Holy Door before the cardinals and prelates and took part in the procession to the altar. They wore traditional attire from their home countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Philippines, France, India, Iran, Italy, Malta, Mexico, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Slovakia, South Korea, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, USA, Venezuela and Vietnam.
Representatives of civil authorities were witnesses, including the Mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, and the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni.
5. The Holy Door is deemed 'Holy' since it calls all those who enter through it to walk in holiness of life. In the footsteps of the Pope, during the singing of the Jubilee hymn, representatives of the entire People of God crossed its threshold, as a prelude to the countless pilgrims of hope from every country and language who will visit St. Peter's Basilica and celebrate the mysteries of salvation during the Holy Year.
6. The tradition dates to Pope Martin V who, for the Extraordinary Jubilee of 1423, opened a Holy Door to enter the Lateran Basilica. In St. Peter's, it was first used for the Jubilee of 1450.
Its location, the rear wall of the chapel dedicated by Pope John VII to the Mother of God, corresponds to a place where it is found today. Pope Alexander VI, in 1500, endowed this symbol of the opening of the Jubilee with a ritual that remained virtually unchanged over the centuries, until the turn of the millennium, when in the year 2000, the removal of the former brick wall was replaced by the ceremonial opening of the bronze Door already in 1983.
The last opening of the Holy Door for an Ordinary Jubilee was when Pope St. John Paul II had done so in the Year 2000. Pope Francis opened the Holy Door in 2015 for his 2016 Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.
7. "During the Holy Year," the Pope has prayed, "may the light of Christian hope illumine every man and woman, as a message of God’s love addressed to all! And may the Church bear faithful witness to this message in every part of the world!"
The Holy Father invited us to pray, to prepare ourselves throughout this year, so that this Jubilee may “strengthen us in our faith, helping us to recognize the Risen Christ in the midst of our lives, transforming us into pilgrims of Christian hope."
5. The Holy Door is deemed 'Holy' since it calls all those who enter through it to walk in holiness of life. In the footsteps of the Pope, during the singing of the Jubilee hymn, representatives of the entire People of God crossed its threshold, as a prelude to the countless pilgrims of hope from every country and language who will visit St. Peter's Basilica and celebrate the mysteries of salvation during the Holy Year.
6. The tradition dates to Pope Martin V who, for the Extraordinary Jubilee of 1423, opened a Holy Door to enter the Lateran Basilica. In St. Peter's, it was first used for the Jubilee of 1450.
Its location, the rear wall of the chapel dedicated by Pope John VII to the Mother of God, corresponds to a place where it is found today. Pope Alexander VI, in 1500, endowed this symbol of the opening of the Jubilee with a ritual that remained virtually unchanged over the centuries, until the turn of the millennium, when in the year 2000, the removal of the former brick wall was replaced by the ceremonial opening of the bronze Door already in 1983.
The last opening of the Holy Door for an Ordinary Jubilee was when Pope St. John Paul II had done so in the Year 2000. Pope Francis opened the Holy Door in 2015 for his 2016 Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.
7. "During the Holy Year," the Pope has prayed, "may the light of Christian hope illumine every man and woman, as a message of God’s love addressed to all! And may the Church bear faithful witness to this message in every part of the world!"
The Holy Father invited us to pray, to prepare ourselves throughout this year, so that this Jubilee may “strengthen us in our faith, helping us to recognize the Risen Christ in the midst of our lives, transforming us into pilgrims of Christian hope."
8. On December 26, Pope Francis will open a second Holy Door at Rebibbia prison, in Rome. The prison is notable when Pope John Paul II in 1983 to pardon the terrorist Mehmet Ali Agça, who had attempted to assassinate him.
9, The opening rites of the Holy Doors of the other three major basilicas will later be performed by their archpriests, and not by the pope.
9, The opening rites of the Holy Doors of the other three major basilicas will later be performed by their archpriests, and not by the pope.
On December 29, 2024, Cardinal Baldassare Reina who will open the Holy Door of St. John Lateran, the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome. On January 1, 2025, Polish Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko will open the Holy Door of the Basilica of St. Mary Major. Lastly, the Holy Door of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls will be opened on January 5th by Cardinal James Michael Harvey.
Source: Vatican News
Comments