Pilgrims lined up to pass through the Holy Door at the entrance to St Peter’s Basilica, commencing the 2025 Holy Year celebrations, according to The Irish Examiner.
Passing through the Holy Door is one of the ways the faithful can receive indulgences or forgiveness of sins during a Jubilee. The quarter-century tradition dates back to the 1300s. On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis knocked on the Door and was the first to pass through it, inaugurating the 2025 Jubilee, which he dedicated to hope.
This year Hanukkah, Judaism’s eight-day Festival of Lights, begins on Christmas Day, which has happened only four times since 1900. The coincidence of calendars has inspired some religious leaders to hold interfaith gatherings such as a Chicanukah party in Houston, Texas. The last time Hanukkah commenced on Christmas Day was in 2005.
Pilgrims were subjected to security checks before entering amid new security concerns following a fatal attack on a Christmas fair in Germany. German celebrations were marred by a car accident at a Christmas fair in Magdeburg on Friday, leaving five people dead and 200 injured.
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier rewrote his recorded Christmas speech, stating that “there is grief, pain, horror and incomprehension over what took place in Magdeburg.” Steinmeier also called on Germans to “stand together,” stating that “hate and violence must not have the last word.”
