American cardinal opens last of Rome’s Holy Doors (Photos)

Cardinal James Michael Harvey opens the Holy Door of the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls during a ceremony for the Catholic Jubilee Year, in Rome on January 5, 2025. The Roman Catholic Church holds a Holy Year, also called a Jubilee Year, every 25 years as the theme of the year 2025 is 'Pilgrims of Hope'

REMO CASILLI | AFP

Kathleen N. Hattrup - published on 01/05/25

Archpriest of St. Paul Outside the Walls, Cardinal James Michael Harvey, completed the rite to open the Holy Door at the basilica, the fifth to be opened in Rome.

Wisconsin native Cardinal James Michael Harvey, archpriest of St. Paul Outside the Walls since 2012, opened the last of Rome's Holy Doors for the Jubilee 2025 this January 5.

The first Holy Door was opened on Christmas Eve at St. Peter's Basilica by Pope Francis. The Pope also opened a Holy Door in a Roman prison.

Pope Francis opens the Holy Door of St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican to mark the start of the Catholic Jubilee Year, on December 24, 2024

And Holy Doors were opened at St. John Lateran by the vicar of Rome, newly named Cardinal Baldassare Reina, on the morning of December 29; and at St. Mary Major by Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, Archpriest Coadjutor of the Marian Basilica, on January 1.

Cardinal James Michael Harvey attends a mass after opening the Holy Door of the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls during a ceremony for the Catholic Jubilee Year, in Rome on January 5, 2025

Cardinal Harvey stressed the invitation of the Jubilee: a renewed encounter with Christ.

"The opening of the Holy Door symbolizes the salvific passage opened by Christ with his incarnation, death, and resurrection. This rite invites all members of the Church to be reconciled with God and neighbor, something particularly necessary in these post-pandemic times marked by wars, tragedies, and global crises," the cardinal said in his homily.