Pope Francis published a message on social network X on the eve of the opening of the Jubilee Year 2025 dedicated to hope, recalling the spiritual significance of this period.
On December 24 at 7 p.m., the Holy Gates will be inaugurated in St. Peter’s Basilica and on December 26 in Rome’s Rebibbia Prison. This will be followed by the opening of the Holy Gates in the three Papal Roman Basilicas, as well as pilgrimages and events involving thousands of pilgrims from around the world. The Bishop of Rome wrote on X:
“Jubilees are a precious time to take stock of our lives, both individual and communal. It is also an occasion for reflection, spiritual gathering and attentive listening to what the Holy Spirit is saying to us today (Rev 2:7). #Jubilee2025.”
The programme for Holy 2025 includes many significant events, beginning with Christmas Eve on December 24 and the opening of the Holy Gates, and ending with the conclusion of the Jubilee on January 6, 2026.
More than 30 million people are expected to participate in the Jubilee pilgrimages organised for various groups, including media workers, artists, military personnel, volunteers, the sick, medical professionals, monastics, priests, deacons, members of Church fraternities, workers, entrepreneurs, civil servants, children and young people. The Teen Jubilee (April 25-27) will attract the largest number of participants, also in connection with the canonisation of Carlo Acutis.
On December 24 at 7 p.m., before the Christmas Mass, there will be a solemn rite of opening of the Holy Gates at the Vatican. Around 30,000 pilgrims are expected to gather in St Peter’s Square to watch the ceremony on large screens, while another part of the faithful will be inside the basilica. Pope Francis – twenty-five years after St John Paul II and nine years after the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy (inaugurated with a moving ceremony at Bangui Cathedral) – will recite the formula: Haec porta Domini (“Here is the gate of the Lord”), to which the faithful will respond: Iusti intrabunt in eam (“The just shall enter into them”).
The ecumenical character of the Holy Year will be emphasised by the bouquets of flowers presented to the Pope by ten children from different countries: Austria, South Korea, Egypt, the Philippines, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Samoa, Slovakia and Venezuela.
The first 54 pilgrims from five continents will pass through the Holy Gates opened by the Pope to receive the Jubilee Indulgence and make a profession of faith. Among their countries of origin are China, Congo, South Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the US and Vietnam.
According to Pope Francis’ bull, the Holy Year is to be dedicated not only to Jubilee symbols, but also to works of care and mercy for the weakest and most vulnerable. A special place in it will be given to the unprecedented event of the opening of the Holy Gates in prison.
Pope Francis announced this in the document Spes non confundit, and Archbishop Rino Fisichella (responsible for the organisation of the Jubilee) specified that the choice was made for the Rebibbia Nuovo Complesso prison in Rome. Within its walls in 2015, the Holy Father celebrated Mass in Coena Domini on Holy Thursday. This year, in the presence of the prisoners, Pope Bergoglio will open the Holy Gates of Rebibbia on the morning of December 26, the feast of the Holy First Martyr Stephen.
According to the Bishop of Rome, this will be a “concrete sign of spiritual closeness” for the prisoners, “a symbol that encourages them to look to the future with hope and a new aspiration for a life worth living.”
The ceremonies at St Peter’s Basilica and Rebibbia Prison will be followed by the opening of the Holy Gates in Rome’s three Papal Basilicas: St John’s on the Lateran Hill on December 29; Santa Maria Maggiore on January 1 and St Paul’s outside the Walls on January 5. The rites will be performed by the bishops of these basilicas. The gates will remain open to pilgrims throughout the year and will be closed by December 28 2025.
Next year, in addition to the traditional routes to the catacombs and the Seven Churches, new pilgrimage paths of faith will be opened in the Italian capital.
