Unveiling the Possibility of Opening the Holy Door in the Year of Jubilee 2025
By: Vatican News
Published Date:
The Vatican Dicastery for Evangelization addresses the possibility of opening the Holy Door in cathedrals, shrines, and other places of worship aside from the Papal Basilicas, in anticipation of the Jubilee 2025.
The Dicastery’s note aims to respond to recent discussions surrounding the upcoming Jubilee, “to foresee the configuration and opening of the Holy Door in Cathedral Churches, International and National Shrines, as well as in other particularly significant places of worship.”
In this regard, the text clarifies that despite understanding the pastoral and devotional reasons that may have prompted this request, it is essential to “adhere to the precise indications established by the Holy Father in the Bull Spes non confundit, for the Indiction of the Jubilee 2025, which identifies the Holy Door as that of the Basilica of St. Peter and the other three Papal Basilicas, namely St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major, and St. Paul Outside the Walls.”
The only exception mentioned is the Holy Father’s desire, as expressed in the Bull, to personally open a Holy Door in a prison “to offer the detainees a tangible sign of closeness.”
The Vatican Dicastery’s text further emphasizes that the characteristic and distinctive sign of the Jubilee Year has always been “the indulgence that ‘expresses the fullness of God’s forgiveness that knows no boundaries,’ through the Sacrament of Penance and the signs of charity and hope.” To fully experience the upcoming Holy Year, it encourages referencing the specific places and modalities indicated by the Decree of the Apostolic Penitentiary of May 13, 2024.
