Pope Leo XIV has the Holy Door of the St. Peter’s Basilica closed and the Holy Year 2025 was declared over. “This Holy Door is closing, but the door of your grace is not closing,” said the Pontiff as he approached the right heavy bronze door of the Papal Basilica. Leo knelt on the doorstep and pulled both wings of the door closed from the outside.
The Catholic Church usually celebrates a Holy Year every 25 years. Through prayer and penance, believers can obtain remission of their sins during this time. This includes passing through holy gates. The heavy right bronze gate of St. Peter’s Basilica is bricked up in normal years.
Holy year 2025 breaks visitor record
Since the opening of the jubilee year there have been around 33.5 million believers from 185 countries in the Vatican traveled to take part in the celebrations. That is a record number. Most pilgrims this Holy Year came from Italy, the USA, Spain, Brazil and Poland. The Vatican visitors also brought record numbers to the Italian capital Rome, as Rome’s mayor Roberto Gualtieri said. The Roman economy benefited enormously from pilgrimage in the holy year of 2025. But the end of the jubilee year also means relaxation; the city of Rome had difficulty dealing with the sheer volume of visitors.
The tradition of anniversaries, as the Holy Years are also called, goes back to Middle Ages back. Since 1450 they have taken place every 25 years with few interruptions. However, there are also extraordinary anniversaries. The next Holy Year should not take place in 2050, but in 2033; then the anniversary of the traditional death and resurrection will take place Jesus for the 2,000th time.
