Rome: Pope Francis inaugurates the 2025 Jubilee at the Vatican

Christmas under the sign of the Jubilee: Pope Francis opened Tuesday evening the “Holy Year” 2025 of the Catholic Church, a great international pilgrimage for which more than 30 million faithful from all over the world are expected in Rome.

In front of an audience of bishops and cardinals, officials including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, thousands of people in Saint Peter's Square and on mondovision, the Argentine Jesuit opened the “Holy Door” of Saint Peter's Basilica , at the Vatican, symbolizing the inauguration of this “ordinary Jubilee”.

“Plenary indulgence”

Seated in a wheelchair, Jorge Bergoglio knocked on the heavy bronze door before silently meditating on his threshold and entering the monumental basilica, archi-filled, followed by a long procession, while the bells rang at the exterior.

Throughout the year, pilgrims will be able to pass through this door, walled up in ordinary times, in order to receive the “plenary indulgence”, the forgiveness of sins according to Catholic tradition.

Weakened by a cold

The 88-year-old pope, recently weakened by a cold, must immediately preside over the Christmas night mass in Saint Peter's Basilica before giving his traditional blessing “Urbi et Orbi” (“At the city ​​and the world”).

He should on this occasion provide an overview of conflicts in the world and renew his calls for a ceasefire in the Middle East, three days after his criticism of the “cruelty” of the strikes in Gaza which sparked protests from Israeli diplomacy.

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