During the second solemn vespers of the ascension of Our Lord, the Holy Father Francis delivered the bull announcing the Jubilee 2025 in the sign of hope
“On Christmas Eve the opening of the Holy Door of the Vatican Basilica”
In the procession of May 2025 the image of the Madonna delle Grazie will be accompanied by the urns with the bodies of the little martyrs ANNIA PRIMA AND GERONTIDE
The Holy Father Francis, this afternoon, during the second solemn vespers of the ascension of Our Lord, handed over to the Cardinal Archpriests of the Roman papal basilicas, the bull of indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee 2025 to be read. Some passages of the document were read by Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza, dean of the college of participating Apostolic Prothonotaries, the dates were made known, the Holy Door of the Vatican Basilica will be opened on 24 December 2024, the following Sunday the Pope will open that of the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, followed by the opening of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore on 1 January 2025 and that of the Basilica of San Paolo Fuori le Mura on 5 January. On both these occasions the rite will certainly be celebrated by the Cardinal Legates.
In cathedral and co-cathedral churches, the diocesan ordinaries will have to preside over the Eucharist on 29 December as the solemn opening of the jubilee year. The holy doors of the three Roman papal basilicas must be closed by Sunday 28 December of the same year. The Jubilee year will end with the closing of the Holy Door of the Vatican Basilica on 6 January 2026.
Therefore, as has been customary since 1940 when they were carried in the May procession for the first time on the occasion of the centenary of their presence in Velletri, in the procession of May 2025 the Holy Image of the Madonna delle Grazie will accompany the urns with the bodies of the little martyrs Annia Prima and Gerontide, which has not happened since the Jubilee of Mercy.
They had previously come out in 1982 on the occasion of the third centenary of the coronation of the Madonna delle Grazie, in 1983 on the occasion of the Jubilee of the Redemption, in 2000 on the occasion of the ordinary Jubilee, in 2006 on the occasion of the bicentenary of the patronage, in the extraordinary procession which in ‘August of that year reached the Municipality, then in 2013 on the occasion of the 400th candle procession.
