What is the Holy Door
From a purely material point of view, we can define the Holy Door as the door of a church or Christian basilica that the Pope has proclaimed as such. This door is kept walled up and is opened only on the occasion of a Jubilee, when it may be crossed to obtain a plenary indulgence for all sins. Indeed, we should remember that the Jubilee is a period lasting one year during which the Church grants special indulgences to those who make pilgrimages, devote themselves to works of charity, dedicate themselves to prayer and penance, or, in this case, cross one of the Holy Doors proclaimed by the Pope.
For the 2025 Jubilee, Pope Francis decided to grant the faithful the Jubilee Indulgence if, with a devout spirit, they participate in popular missions, spiritual exercises, or formation meetings on the texts of the Second Vatican Council and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, to be held in a church or another suitable place, in accordance with the Holy Father’s wishes.
Meaning
As for the symbolic meaning of the Holy Door, we find the door already mentioned in the book of the prophet Ezekiel, as an opening through which the glory of God enters the house, but also the soul: “Then he led me toward the gate facing east, and behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. The sound was like the sound of mighty waters, and the earth shone with his glory. The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he came to destroy the city and like the vision I had seen by the Chebar River. I fell facedown. The glory of the Lord entered the temple through the gate facing east” (Ezekiel 43:1-4).
However, we can better understand the significance of the Holy Door in the Gospel of John, where we read: “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate: if anyone enters through me, they will be saved; they will come in and go out and find pasture” (Jn 10:7-9). Here, Jesus speaks of himself as a door, and so the Holy Door becomes the required passage for anyone who wants to follow him.
An ancient tradition
The tradition of the Holy Door is ancient. The first to proclaim one was Pope Celestine V, who in 1294 declared the door of the Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio in L’Aquila to be holy. It is still the site of the annual Jubilee established by Celestine himself through the Bull of Forgiveness of September 29, 1294, known as the Celestinian Forgiveness and classified by UNESCO as the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.
Today there are many Jubilee doors, including, besides the one at St. Peter’s and the Holy Door at St. John Lateran in Rome, those of the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, Atri Cathedral, and the Notre-Dame de Québec Basilica-Cathedral. The Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in New Delhi, India, opened its Holy Door on December 12, 2015, to mark the beginning of the Jubilee of Mercy.
Opening of the Holy Door
The Jubilee begins with the opening of St. Peter’s Holy Door and concludes with its closure.
The rite of opening the Holy Door recalls the symbolism we have already discussed: the door as a necessary passage to salvation. The opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, in particular, marks the beginning of the Jubilee (the solemn opening of the Holy Door for the current Jubilee took place on December 24, 2024; on December 29, 2024, the Holy Door of St. John Lateran was opened; on January 1, 2025, the Holy Door of Saint Mary Major was opened, and on January 5, that of Saint Paul Outside the Walls). In the following days, the doors of the other Jubilee basilicas are opened throughout the world.
Traditionally, they began unsealing the Holy Door in preparation for the Jubilee. It was the Pope’s task to symbolically break through the last barrier with a hammer, after which he would let the builders complete the work. The tradition of bricking up St. Peter’s Holy Door and opening it only on the occasion of the Jubilee remained in force until 1975. Then, in 2000, Saint John Paul II, who risked being struck by falling debris while carrying out the rite, decided to change the custom. Since then, the Holy Door has simply been closed at the end of the Jubilee and reopened for the following Jubilee.
Will you take the opportunity of the Jubilee to pass through the Holy Door? Which one will you choose? Tell us in the comments!
