Pilgrims traverse Vatican Holy Door as Christmas marks the start of the 2025 Holy Year
Pilgrims lined up early Wednesday to walk through the great 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.Pilgrims submitted to security controls before entering the Holy Door, amid new security fears following a deadly Christmas market attack in Germany. Many paused to touch the door as they passed and made the sign of the cross upon entering the basilica dedicated to St.Peter, founder of the Roman Catholic Church.At noon, Francis will deliver the “Urbi et Orbi” — “To the City and the World” address, which serves as a summary of the woes facing the world this year.Hanukkah, Judaism’s eight-day Festival of Lights, begins this year on Christmas Day, which has only happened four times since 1900.The calendar confluence has inspired some religious leaders to host interfaith gatherings, such as a Chicanukah party hosted last week by several Jewish organizations in Houston, Texas, bringing together members of the city’s Latino and Jewish communities for latkes, the traditional potato pancake eaten on Hanukkah, topped with guacamole and salsa.While Hanukkah is intended as an upbeat, celebratory holiday, rabbis note that it’s taking place this year as wars rage in the Middle East and fears rise over widespread incidents of antisemitism.
The holidays overlap infrequently because the Jewish calendar is based on lunar cycles and is not in sync with the Gregorian calendar, which sets Christmas on Dec.25.
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