Pope ends year of events which drew millions

Pope John Paul II has pulled shut the Holy Door of St Peter's Basilica to end the Vatican's Jubilee Year of repentance and renewal, which drew some 25 million pilgrims to Rome.

The Holy Year, usually proclaimed every 25 years by pontiffs, this time coincided with both the change of centuries and millennia. The Pope had looked forward to the event for much of his 22-year-long pontificate as a chance to rejuvenate the Catholic Church and its billion members.