The Pope closes the Holy Door, Jubilee ends
Begun with Pope Francis and continued with Leo XIV, in a relay that has no precedent in history, the 2025 Jubilee saw 33,475,369 pilgrims from all over the world arrive in Rome
Key points
Jubilee last act. Pope Leo XIV closed the holy door of St. Peter's Basilica. Thus ends the Jubilee 2025 dedicated to hope. The door of the basilica had been opened by Pope Francis on the evening of 24 December 2024. Also present at the event was the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella. Then it will be time to turn the page and already look forward to the appointment of 2033 when the Church will celebrate two thousand years since the Redemption. Begun with Pope Francis and continued with Leo XIV, in a relay race that has no precedent in history, the 2025 Jubilee has seen 33,475,369 pilgrims from all over the world arrive in Rome. According to the operations room for the security management of large events of the Rome Police Headquarters, there were 3,000 faithful in the square to attend the ceremony, despite the rain. The flow of people arriving is increasing.
The Pope: the Jubilee teaches us to begin again, we are at the beginning
"The Jubilee has come to remind us that we can begin again, indeed that we are still at the beginning, that the Lord wants to grow among us, he wants to be the God-with-us". The Pope said this in his homily at the Epiphany Mass at the conclusion of the Jubilee. "Yes, God questions the existing order: he has dreams that he inspires even today in his prophets; he is determined to redeem us from ancient and new slavery; he involves young and old, poor and rich, men and women, saints and sinners in his works of mercy, in the wonders of his justice. He makes no noise, but his Kingdom is already sprouting everywhere in the world," the Pontiff concluded.
Questore Roma: over 70 thousand agents for Jubilee events
More than 70,000 law enforcement officers are employed in the Jubilee events. This was announced by the Quaestor of Rome, Roberto Massucci, on the closing day of the Jubilee. "The commitment on the security front should be considered the result of an institutional whole and not only - he added -. I would say of the country system in which more than 70,000 police, carabinieri, and financial police officers, plus the commitment of the local police, civil protection, Atac, Ama, and Ares 118 all worked together to guarantee the safety of millions of pilgrims, more than 33 million who travelled to Rome".
The Holy Year with the echo of wars, from Gaza to Ukraine
"An unarmed and disarming peace": Pope Leo XIV asked for it on 8 May when he first appeared from the Loggia of Blessings in his role as Pontiff. Indeed, peace was one of the main themes of the Jubilee 2025, with the echoes of wars reaching Rome every day. Not only the news broadcast by the media, but also the suffering faces of the people under the bombs who made their Jubilee pilgrimage anyway, from Ukraine to the Holy Land. The face-to-face in St. Peter's Basilica between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on 26 April at the funeral of Pope Francis will go down in history. But the search for peace was relentless during the twelve months of the Holy Year. In addition to the phone calls, Leo XIV met Zelensky three times, saw Israel's President Isaac Herzog as well as Palestinian President Abu Mazen, US Vice-President JD Vance, who by the way was also the last politician to have met Pope Francis personally, on 20 April at Casa Santa Marta, just the day before he died. There was no Angelus, during the Jubilee 2025, at which appeals for peace were not made, both by Bergoglio and then by Prevost.
