The Vatican will open five holy portals from Christmas Eve for the first time in 25 years.
The opening of the Holy Doors marks the beginning of the Jubilee Year 2025, a year of forgiveness, reconciliation and renewed focus on the spiritual life.
According to church teaching, Catholics who confess their sins during this period are forgiven and thereby released from the eternal or spiritual punishment of damnation.
At the start of Mass on Christmas Eve, Pope Francis will push open the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica, which will remain open year-round to allow passage of the estimated 32 million pilgrims expected to visit Rome.
Catholics around the world can watch the ritual unfold starting at 1:00 PM ET, as a web camera has been installed on St. Peter’s Door.
Pope Francis has invited Catholics to focus on hope as the world suffers the consequences of war, the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis.
The doors are located at the Basilicas of St. Peter, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major and St. Paul Outside the Walls, all of which are within a 30-minute drive of the Vatican in Italy.
For the first time, the Pope will also open on the The Rebibbia Prison, Italy’s largest correction facility, but which brings a message of hope to prisoners.
St. Peter’s is considered one of the holiest sites in Christianity. Its construction began in the 4th century when the Roman Emperor Constantine decided to build a basilica where the apostle was buried
The Catholic Church began the ritual on December 2, praying at the door of St. Peter’s Basilica and removing a metal box (pictured) containing a key, followed by ceremonies at the other four doors.
The first Holy Door was opened in 1425, the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran. This is the oldest church in Rome built in 324 AD.
Some churches are said to house remains of saints and are the oldest basilicas in the world.
The Catholic Church began the ritual on December 2, praying at the door of St. Peter’s Basilica and removing a metal box containing a key, followed by ceremonies at the other four doors.
“I propose that in this anniversary year, governments undertake initiatives aimed at restoring hope; forms of amnesty or pardons intended to help individuals regain confidence in themselves and in society; and programs for reintegration into the community,” Pope Francis said.
The process of opening the four doors of the basilica involves removing the brick wall that covers each door from the inside of the basilica, followed by the Pope pushing open the doors to mark the beginning of the Holy Year.
When the anniversary ends on January 6, 2026, the Pope will be the last person to walk through each of the four doors before closing them, which will then be bricked up and sealed.
The prison door is a hypothetical Holy Door. While the Pope will walk through the main entrance as ‘a symbol of all the prisons spread throughout the world’.
The last regular anniversary was in 2000, when John Paul II inaugurated the church’s third millennium. Francis proclaimed a special jubilee dedicated to mercy in 2015-2016, and the next planned jubilee is in 2033, to commemorate the anniversary of Christ’s crucifixion.
Pope Boniface VIII was the first to Christianize the ceremony, later proclaiming that it would take place every 100 years, but two years later the anniversary was changed to every 50 years.
St. Paul’s Basilica is the largest basilica after St. Peter’s Basilica and is believed to be the burial place of St. Paul. It has been a place of pilgrimage since 300 AD
It was not until 125 years after the first celebration that the first Holy Door was opened in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, the oldest public church in Rome built in 324 AD.
In 1474, Pope Paul II decreed that the jubilee should be held every 25 years, following the tradition of opening all four doors of the basilica.
Located in Rome, St. Peter’s Basilica is considered one of the holiest sites in Christianity.
The apostle Peter, originally called Simeon or Simōn, was a disciple of Jesus. He died in Rome around 64 AD and was recognized in the early Christian church as the leader of the disciples.
The process involves removing the brick wall covering the door (pictured in St. Peter’s Basilica) from the inside of the basilica, followed by the Pope pushing open the door to mark the start of the Holy Year.
The Basilica of St. Mary Major was connected to the Council of Ephesus of 431 AD, which proclaimed Mary Theotokos, which is Greek for ‘Mother of God’
Construction of the basilica began in the 4th century when the Roman Emperor Constantine decided to build a basilica on the site where the apostle was buried.
Constantine was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity.
The Basilica of St. Mary Major was associated with the Council of Ephesus of 431 AD, which proclaimed Mary Theotokos, which is Greek for “Mother of God.”
It is the largest of the 26 churches in Rome dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
Constantine also ordered the construction of the Basilica of Saint Paul, completing construction in 324, which is believed to house the remains of the biblical figure.
This year marks the first opening of a Holy Door in the Roman prison of Rebibbia, which will be seen as a “symbol of all the prisons in the world,” Archbishop Rino Fisichella said.