Jubilee 2025, Pope Francis opens the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica

On Christmas Eve, with the Opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Francis officially inaugurated the 2025 Jubilee. After a moment of prayer in the atrium of the Basilica, the Pope presided over the ancient rite, before crossing, as the first "Pilgrim of Hope", the threshold of the Door to solemnly enter St. Peter's. The words of the Gospel of John resounded, "I am the Door: if anyone enters through me, he will be saved", and then those of Psalm 118, "This is the door of the Lord, through which the righteous enter". Behind him a procession with the cardinals, bishops and priests concelebrating, and a group of families representing the five continents.

At 7pm the Pope celebrated the Night Mass of Christmas inside the Basilica. The event was also broadcast on the giant screens in St. Peter's Square, for over 25,000 faithful who were thus able to participate in the celebration. Those who were in the Square were also able to receive Communion.

“Sisters and brothers, with the opening of the Holy Door we have begun a new Jubilee,” said the Pope during his homily on Christmas Eve. “Each of us can enter into the mystery of this announcement of grace. This is the night in which the door of hope has been opened wide to the world; this is the night in which God says to each one of us: there is hope for you too! There is hope for each of us. Do not forget, sisters and brothers, that God forgives everything, God always forgives. Do not forget this, which is a way of understanding hope in the Lord”.

Then, continuing on the theme of Hope, he added: “Sisters, brothers, this is the Jubilee, this is the time of hope! It invites us to rediscover the joy of the encounter with the Lord, it calls us to spiritual renewal and commits us to the transformation of the world, so that this truly becomes a jubilee time … May it become a jubilee for our mother Earth, disfigured by the logic of profit; may it become a jubilee for the poorest countries, burdened by unjust debts; may it become a jubilee for all those who are prisoners of old and new forms of slavery. To all of us, may it bring the gift and commitment to bring hope where it has been lost: where life is wounded, in betrayed expectations, in broken dreams, in failures that shatter the heart; in the tiredness of those who feel they can no longer go on, in the bitter solitude of those who feel defeated, in the suffering that digs into the soul; in the long, empty days of prisoners, in the narrow and cold rooms of the poor, in places desecrated by war and violence. Bring hope there, sow hope there”.

From 8am on the morning of December 25, all those who wish have been able to go on a pilgrimage through the Holy Door of St. Peter. The first groups of pilgrims have already had the experience, starting their journey from Via della Conciliazione. Tomorrow the Pope will open, for the first time in an ordinary Jubilee, a Holy Door in the Roman prison of Rebibbia. On December 29, the Holy Door of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the cathedral of Rome, will be opened, and at the same time all the bishops of the world will open the Jubilee Year with a celebration together with their own diocesan community. On January 1, the feast of Mary Most Holy Mother of God, the Holy Door of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore will be opened, and finally, on January 5, the Holy Door of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls will be opened.