Before celebrating Holy Mass on Christmas Eve, Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of Saint Peter's Basilica, thus inaugurating the 2025 Jubilee under the theme of hope. This Christian virtue is incompatible with laziness and asks everyone to “become pilgrims in search of truth,” the Holy Father said in his homily. For a year, the faithful from all over the world are invited to pass through a Holy Door and open the doors wide to Christ.
Alexandra Sirgant – Vatican City
It was in silence and prayer that the Successor of Peter opened the bronze doors of the Holy Door of the Petrine basilica, officially plunging Catholics around the world into the Holy Year 2025. The Door, located at the end right of the atrium of the Vatican basilica, will remain open until January 6, 2026, allowing pilgrims who pass through it, as well as the four other Holy Doors of the eternal city, to pass from sin to grace. This was done for the 54 faithful, of all ages and from five continents, who followed in the footsteps of the Holy Father this December 24, accompanied by the official anthem of the Jubilee, and followed by cardinals, priests, religious and members of the Roman curia.
Before the 6,000 faithful of the basilica and the 25,000 others gathered in Saint-Pierre Square, Pope Francis dedicated his homily to the hope brought by the birth of the Child Jesus, “came down among us to raise us up and bring us back into the Father's embrace. «And if God comes, even when our heart is like a poor manger, then we can say: hope is not dead, hope is alive, and it envelops our life forever! exclaimed the Sovereign Pontiff, at the foot of Bernini's restored Baldachin and the statue of Our Lady of Hope.
Like the shepherds of Bethlehem who “set off without delay» after the announcement of the birth of the child Jesus, the Holy Father also invited the faithful to leave “without delay» in search of lost hope in order to “sow it in the desolations of our time and our world”, and translate it “in the situations of our life».
Hope, incompatible with mediocrity and laziness
The Argentine Pope, however, called not to confuse Christian hope with “a happy ending to wait for passively“. On the contrary, insisted the Holy Father on his twelfth Christmas at the Vatican, she asks believers not to lock themselves into their habits, not to sink into mediocrity and laziness but to “to be outraged by things that are wrong and to have the courage to change them“. Christian hopeasks us to become pilgrims in search of truth, dreamers who never tire, women and men who allow themselves to be moved by the dream of God, the dream of a new world, where peace and harmony reign. justice“. To do this, the Bishop of Rome advises taking another example from the shepherds of Bethlehem, because “the hope that is born in this night does not tolerate the indolence of the sedentary and the laziness of those who have settled into their comfort; it does not admit the false prudence of those who do not take the plunge for fear of compromising themselves and the calculation of those who only think of themselves; it is incompatible with the quiet life of those who do not raise their voice against the evil and injustices that are committed at the expense of the poorest“. Christian hope must be accompanied by responsibility and compassion.
The commitment to bring hope where it has been lost
Chosen as the theme of the Jubilee Year, this Christian virtue invites the faithful “to rediscover the joy of meeting the Lord, (…) to a spiritual renewal and commits us to transforming the world, so that this time truly becomes a jubilee time» as well for the Earth, «disfigured by the logic of profit”, than for “the poorest countries, burdened with unjust debts”, as well as the “prisoners of old and new slavery“. The opening of the Holy Year is the responsibility of everyone “the gift and commitment to bring hope where it has been lost», as for example in the hearts of the poor, the suffering or even prisoners. The latter, often deprived of the prospect of a better life, will be honored this Thursday, December 26 during the opening of the Holy Door in the Roman prison of Rebbibia. As indicated in the bull of indiction Spes non confundit, the opening of this door among the prisoners symbolizes the hope of a new beginning possible for everyone.
The Holy Father continued by quoting a Christmas homily by the late Italian cardinal and archbishop of Milan, the Jesuit Carlo Maria Martini, on the tenderness of God manifested in the face of the Child Jesus: “By contemplating the loving goodness of God which overcomes our mistrust and our fears, we also contemplate the greatness of the hope which awaits us. […] May this vision of hope illuminate our path each day» (Christmas Homily1980).
Pope Francis finally addressed all the faithful: “My sister, my brother, on this night, it is for you that the “Holy Door” of the heart of God opens. Jesus, the God-with-us, was born for you, for us, for every man and every woman. And with Him, joy flourishes, with Him life changes, with Him hope does not disappoint».
As is the tradition every year, Pope Francis concluded the ceremony by carrying the Child Jesus to the nativity scene in Saint Peter's Basilica, surrounded by children who placed their bouquets of flowers there.
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