With just days left in the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, the Church is preparing for a powerful ritual: the closing of the Holy Doors.
Since the first one was opened by Pope Francis on December 24, 2024, nearly 30 million pilgrims have crossed their thresholds — seeking mercy, healing, and renewal.
From the majesty of St. Peter’s to the quiet dignity of Rebibbia Prison’s special door, these sacred thresholds have welcomed everyone from cardinals to convicts.
The closing ceremonies will begin on Christmas Day, as the Holy Door at St. Mary Major shuts. Over the following days, each of Rome’s basilicas will hold a final celebration, until January 6, 2026 — when Pope Leo XIV will close the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica and mark the official end of the Jubilee.
Who is closing the doors, and when
St. Mary Major by Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas on December 25,
St. John Lateran by Cardinal-Vicar Baldo Reina on December 27,
St. Paul Outside the Walls by Cardinal Michael Harvey on December 28.
Unless Leo decides to declare an extraordinary jubilee, it is expected that the next jubilee year will be in 2033, celebrating the 2,000th anniversary of Christ's death and resurrection, which tradition holds occurred in the year 33 AD.
The next ordinary jubilee, following the tradition of every 25 years, will be in 2050.
And then, the doors will be sealed. Not forever, of course. But until 2033, when the Church will open them again for the Extraordinary Holy Year of the Redemption.
Now what?
So what do you do with this moment?
You pause. You give thanks. And most importantly, you carry it forward. Because while the doors may close, the grace they represent doesn’t disappear. This Jubilee has been a year of extraordinary mercy, of reconciliation, of millions returning to the sacraments and rediscovering hope. And that kind of spiritual movement doesn’t end with a ceremony.
It continues in your heart — if you dare to let it stay open. And if the Jubilee has taught you anything, it’s that the greatest openings don’t happen in basilicas, but in souls. And that hope, when rooted in faith, is never dependent on dates or doors.
So yes, the Holy Doors will soon be sealed. But the legacy of this Jubilee year — the confessions you've made, the prayers you offered, the steps you walked, even if just in spirit — remains.
As Pope Leo said at the last Saturday Jubilee audience:
“The Jubilee is coming to an end, but the hope that this year has given us does not die.”
"We will remain pilgrims of hope!" he assured, echoing the motto of this Holy Year.
And if you choose to live with that same spirit of welcome, mercy, and trust, then you carry the Jubilee with you. In your home, your parish, your ordinary daily life. Every act of forgiveness, every decision to begin again, becomes its own open door. Do not let anyone steal your hope!
Because when your heart stays open, so does hope. On to 2033!
