Pilgrims pass through Vatican Holy Door as the 2025 Holy Year begins

People walking through the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pilgrims lined up early to walk through the Holy Door at the entrance of St Peter’s Basilica as Christmas marked the start of the 2025 Holy Year celebration that is expected to bring some 32 million Catholic faithful to Rome.

Traversing the Holy Door is one way that the faithful can obtain indulgences, or forgiveness for sins during a Jubilee, a once-every-quarter-century tradition that dates from 1300. On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis knocked on the door and was the first to walk through it, inaugurating the 2025 Jubilee that he dedicated to hope.