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Simona DeSantis
The Holy Door is the symbol of the Jubilee, «it is Jesus Christ, crossing it means leaving the old man behind and going beyond»
Il December 24th a year ago, Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. It was the act that marked the start of the Jubilee 2025. A year later it was his successor Pope Leo Christmas night. The Holy Doors will be closed from December 25th. The first Holy Door closed, today Thursday, is that of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore right there where the body rests Pope Bergoglio. To preside over the rite and the Mass, Cardinal Archpriest Rolandas Makrickas.
The calendar of events
On December 27th, at 11am, the Holy Door of the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano will close. The rite and Eucharistic celebration will be presided over by the cardinal vicar Baldo Queenand animated by the choir of the diocese, directed by Monsignor Marco Frisina.
On December 28th, however, at 10am, the Holy Door of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls will be closed, with the celebrations presided over by Cardinal Archpriest James Michael Harvey.
The last Holy Door to be closed will be that of St. Peter’s Basilica. To hold the ritual, on the morning of January 6, he will be Pope Leo XIV. The closure of the Holy Door of the Rebibbia prison, strongly desired by Pope Francis, was celebrated by Cardinal Vicar Baldo Reina last December 21st.
The meaning
«The door is Jesus Christ – said father Giulio Albanesedirector of the Communications Office in the diocese of Rome, on Christmas Eve 2024 – Crossing it means leaving the old man behind and going beyond, looking to the future to be new creatures.” The The Jubilee of Hope is therefore drawing to a close and its deepest meaning is embedded in the rites: the door «symbolizes the entrance into a new dimension of grace, forgiveness and spiritual renewal, recalling Jesus “the door” (John 10:9)». We say goodbye to sin, the faithful are invited to repent and reconcile, in doing so they can receive plenary indulgence and begin a new journey. The Holy Doors, usually closed and sealed, are opened only during the Holy Year, both ordinary and extraordinary, as a sign of a salvific passage into the house of God.
Over the years
Alongside the traditional ones of the four Roman basilicas, there were two new initiatives. On 29 November 2015, Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of the Cathedral of Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, anticipating the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy 2016, transforming the suffering city into the spiritual capital of the world to ask for peace, mercy and reconciliation: a symbolic gesture in a land torn by war.
Last year, Pope Francis also opened a fifth Holy Door, that of the chapel of the Rebibbia penitentiary institute in Rome, to bring hope to prisoners and symbolize the openness of the heart. It is one of the five Holy Doors of the 2025 Jubilee and the first to have been opened in a prison, temporarily transforming the institution into a “Basilica” for the occasion, underlining that everyone, especially the most vulnerable, is included in the path of mercy and redemption. It was closed days ago by Vicar Baldo Reina.
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December 25, 2025 (changed December 25, 2025 | 10:23)
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