Vatican issues clarification on Holy Doors during 2025 Jubilee

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

As the next Ordinary Jubilee in 2025 approaches, Pope Francis, in his speech Bull of Indictiontitled ‘Unconfidential information (“Hope does not disappoint”), indicated as the Holy Door “that of St. Peter’s Basilica and the three other pontifical basilicas, namely St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major and St. Paul Outside the Walls, with the exception of the desire expressed by the Holy Father to personally open a Holy Door in a prison “to offer prisoners a concrete sign of closeness.”

This was reaffirmed in a note published on Thursday, August 1, by the Section for Fundamental Questions on Evangelization in the World of the Dicastery for Evangelization.

The note specifically provided guidance regarding the opening of the Holy Door in locations other than Rome.

“Given the imminent beginning of the Jubilee 2025,” begins the note from the Dicastery, “the question has recently arisen of the possibility of planning the configuration and opening of the Holy Door in cathedral churches, international and national shrines, as well as in other particularly significant places of worship.”

St. Peter’s and Papal Basilicas

“In this regard, while considering with sensitivity the pastoral and devotional motivations which may have suggested such a laudable aspiration,” he continues, “it is nevertheless considered necessary to recall the precise indications established by the Holy Father in the Bull Spes non confidit“, which reaffirms the locations of the Holy Doors for the imminent Jubilee.

In the text, the Dicastery also took the opportunity to recall that “the particular and identifying sign of the Jubilee Year, as it has been transmitted since the first Jubilee of the year 1300, is the indulgence which “intends to express the fullness of God’s forgiveness which knows no limits”, through the sacrament of Penance and the signs of charity and hope.”

In this context, they urge the faithful to consult “the particular places and the different modalities indicated by the decree of the Apostolic Penitentiary of May 13, 2024”, in order to “fully experience this moment of grace.”

A glimpse of the Jubilee

In Spes non confiditPope Francis has announced that the Jubilee Year will begin with the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve 2024.

The Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica is opened by the Pope only at the beginning of the Jubilee Year. It is usually the first door to be opened to indicate the beginning of the Holy Year. The first evidence of this rite in St. Peter’s dates back to the year 1500, during the pontificate of Alexander VI.

On December 29, the Pope will open the Holy Door of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the cathedral of Rome. On the same day, all the cathedrals and co-cathedrals around the world will celebrate a Mass by the local bishop to mark the opening of the Jubilee.

On the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, January 1, 2025, Pope Francis will open the Holy Door of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, while the Holy Door of the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls will be opened on Sunday, January 5, the eve of the Epiphany.

“During the year,” Pope Francis wrote, “every effort must be made to enable the people of God to participate fully in his proclamation of hope in the grace of God and in the signs that attest to its effectiveness.”

On December 28, 2025, the Jubilee will end in the particular Churches throughout the world, with the Holy Doors of St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major and St. Paul Outside the Walls being closed on that same date.

Finally, the Jubilee Year will officially conclude in Rome on January 6, 2026, on the solemnity of the Epiphany.