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 The Holy Door at Saint Peter's Basilica Scott 1136 (1999) On Tuesday morning, Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass for the Feast of the Epiphany at Saint Peter’s Basilica. Before the Mass, the pope presided over the solemn ceremony closing the Holy Door at the Basilica, bringing to its conclusion the Ordinary Holy Year of 2025, the Jubilee of Hope. Prior to processing into the basilica for the Mass, Pope Leo knelt before the open Holy Door in prayer, and then pulled the huge bronze doors, constructed for the Holy Year of 1950, closed. It was an event not seen in over three hundred years, namely the closing of a Holy Year by a different pope who opened it. The Holy Year of 1700 was opened by Pope Innocent XII, who died in September of 1700, leaving his successor, Pope Clement XI, to close the Holy Year. As we all know, Pope Francis opened the Holy Door at Saint Peter’s on Christmas Eve, 2024, to begin the Jubilee of Hope. As a result of his death in April, his successor, Pope Leo XIV, assumed the task of closing the Door and the Holy Year. During a press conference on Monday, Archbishop Salvatore “Rino” Fisichella, the pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization who served at the Vatican’s “point person” for the Jubilee, stated that approximately 33.5 million pilgrims came to Rome during the Holy Year, exceeded earlier projections for about 31 million visitors. With the conclusion of the Holy Year of 2025, the Church now looks forward to its next expected Jubilee celebration, the anticipated Extraordinary Jubilee to celebrate the 2000th anniversary of the Resurrection of Christ in 2033. By clicking on the Holy See website reference below, the reader can access highlights of the Mass held on Tuesday. REFERENCES: |
