The Holy Year 2025, which has hope and trust as its theme, began with the Pope opening the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica. “This is the night in which God says to each one: there is hope for you,” said the Pontiff in the Christmas mass. It’s time “to be indignant at the things that aren’t right and have the courage to change them.”

Since the first Holy Year of 1300, passing through the Holy Door or one of the three doors of the other Papal Basilicas has allowed pilgrims to receive indulgences or the “forgiveness of sins”. Pope Francis officially kicked off the Holy Year 2025 on Christmas Eve by opening the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica, an event expected to attract more than 30 million pilgrims to the Italian capital, Rome. The Holy Year 2025, which has as its theme the promotion of hope and trust, is the second Jubilee led by Pope Francis after 2015. Next to the Major Basilicas of Rome doors, the Pontiff will open a fifth door in the Roman prison of Rebibbia, symbolising an invitation for “all prisoners to look to the future with renewed confidence”.

An estimated 7,000 people followed the opening of the Holy Door from inside the Basilica, while thousands watched on large screens in St. Peter’s Square and through broadcasts worldwide.

The rite, very sober but not without solemnity, was preceded by songs and prayers inside the Basilica, with the announcement of Christmas. Before proceeding with opening the Holy Door, Francis absented himself for a few minutes. The vestments worn by the Pope are also sober. An ivory white cop with gold decorations, a symbol of eternity, and green, a symbol of hope. At 7.17 pm, the Pope, sitting in a wheelchair, placed his hand on the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, which immediately opened, thus starting the celebration of the ordinary Holy Year 2025, entitled to Hope. “This is the night in which the door of hope opened wide onto the world; this is the night in which God says to each one: there is hope for you too!” the Pontiff will underline shortly afterwards in his homily. A hope that requires us not to linger, “not to drag ourselves into habits, not to linger in habits and laziness”. Because “hope is not dead, hope is alive, and envelops our lives forever”. Then he entered, accompanied by the notes of the Jubilee Hymn. Shortly before the Pope opened the door, the Schola of the Sistine Chapel sang a song that said: “This is the door of the Lord. Through it the righteous enter. I enter your house, Lord. I prostrate myself towards your holy temple Open the doors of justice to me. I will enter to thank the Lord.”

After opening the Holy Door, the Pontiff crossed it first, followed, among others, by 54 faithful representing various nations from all over the world, including some tormented by the wars currently underway. Also present were numerous cardinals and bishops, including the Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, the archpriest of the Vatican Basilica, Mauro Gambetti and the dean of the College of Cardinals Giovanni Battista Re, who then presided over the Eucharistic liturgy. Also present was Cardinal Angelo Becciu. The Pope then reached the altar of Confession to celebrate the Christmas Eve Mass. At the end of the Mass, he stopped to pray in front of the nativity scene in the Basilica.

In the homily, the Pope returned to the central theme of the Jubilee. Hope, he said in fact, “does not tolerate the indolence of the sedentary and the laziness of those who have settled into their own comforts, it does not admit the false prudence of those who do not go out of their way for fear of compromising themselves and the calculation of those who think only of themselves itself; it is incompatible with the quiet life of those who do not raise their voices against evil and injustices committed against the poorest”. On the contrary, Christian hope “demands from us the audacity to anticipate this promise today, through our responsibility and our compassion”. In other words, “it asks us, as Saint Augustine would say, to disdain ourselves for the things that are not right and to have the courage to change them.” In this time “there is much desolation – he added -: let’s think about the wars, the machine-gunned children, the bombs on schools and hospitals”. Here then we must bring hope where “it has been lost: where life is wounded – Francis underlined again -, in betrayed expectations, in broken dreams, in failures that shatter the heart; in the tiredness of those who can no longer take it, in the bitter solitude of those who feel defeated, in the suffering that digs into the soul; in the long and empty days of prisoners, in the narrow and cold rooms of the poor, in places desecrated by war and violence”.

The Jubilee, therefore, opens so that “everyone may be given the hope of the Gospel, the hope of love, the hope of forgiveness”. “God forgives everything; he always forgives”, Pope Bergoglio added off the cuff as usual. “The joy of the encounter with the Lord calls us to spiritual renewal and commits us to the transformation of the world so that this truly becomes a jubilee time: it becomes one for our mother Earth, disfigured by the logic of profit; it becomes one for the countries poorer, burdened by unjust debts; you become prisoners of old and new slavery”. “Sister, brother, on this night it is for you that the “holy door” of the heart of God opens – concluded the Pope.

At the opening of the Holy Door and the Christmas Eve Mass, according to data provided by the authorities, 6 thousand faithful took part in the Vatican Basilica and 25 thousand in the Piazza area. Also present were the official delegations from Italy, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni from San Marino and the Order of Malta. Also in the Basilica were the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, the president of the Lazio Region, Francesco Rocca, and John Elkann, president of Stellantis. Some representatives of other Christian confessions were also present, some of whom also crossed the Holy Door.

Security in Rome has been strengthened, with 700 more officers and enhanced surveillance measures. Following a recent attack on a German Christmas market, police patrols have been stepped up around key locations.