Opening of the Holy Door in St Peter’s Basilica: A note by the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity on the participation of guests from other Churches and Christian Communions

The Ordinary Jubilee 2025, a celebration proper to the Catholic Church, coincides with an anniversary which is significant for all Christians, the 1700th anniversary of the celebration of the first Ecumenical Council, the Council of Nicaea. The Council of Nicaea sought to preserve the Church’s unity, which was being undermined by the denial in some quarters of the full divinity of Jesus Christ, and hence also, of his consubstantiality with the Father. By the grace of the Holy Spirit, the Nicene Council Fathers unanimously approved the Creed that we still recite each Sunday at the celebration of the Eucharist (cf Bull of Indiction, Spes non confundit §17).

The Holy Door is the preeminent sign of the Jubilee, since the traditional goal of the Jubilee pilgrim is to pass through it. The Rite of Opening of the Holy Door for the 2025 Jubilee underlines the Council of Nicaea’s teaching that the Nativity of the Lord is the coming of “light from light”, and invites believers to walk through the Holy Door with faith – the faith which all Christians can profess in the words of the Nicene Creed.

The Rite of Opening of the Holy Door includes the proclamation of a reading from Chapter 10 of St John’s Gospel, which includes the verse: “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (v. 9). The act of entering the Basilica through the Holy Door is to be interpreted in the light of this text. Entering through the Holy Door expresses the will to follow and be led by God’s Only-Begotten Son. It is a manifestation of the faith that all Christians share in Jesus, the Eternal Word made flesh.

While the Ordinary Jubilee is a celebration proper to the Catholic Church, the coincidence of the Jubilee with the anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council offers an opportunity to include brothers and sisters of other Churches and Christian Communions in its celebration. In the Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee, Pope Francis wrote that the anniversary of the Council of Nicaea “invites Christians to join in a hymn of praise and thanksgiving to the Blessed Trinity and in particular to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, ‘consubstantial with the Father’, who revealed to us that mystery of love” (Spes non confundit §17).

This Christmas, as always, guests from some of the other Churches and Christian Communions present in Rome will be in St Peter’s Basilica for the Mass during the Night. A number of these ecumenical guests have been invited to be among those who will cross the threshold of the Holy Door after the Holy Father. This invitation is a gesture of hospitality, inviting them to share the joy of the Catholic Church at the opening of the Jubilee. It should not be understood as an attempt to associate them with any elements of the Jubilee, such as the Jubilee Indulgence, which are not consonant with the practices of their respective communities. Rather, their crossing the threshold of the Holy Door is a visible sign of the faith that all Christians share in Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh – the faith which we profess in the Nicene Creed – and of our common belief that the same Jesus is the Door through which we enter into life. Underlining what is shared by all Christians in this way, rather than the things that divide them, is a response to the Jubilee call to be pilgrims of the hope that does not disappoint (cf Rom 5:5), manifesting our real though imperfect communion, and seeking to be for the world “a leaven of authentic hope, a harbinger of new heavens and a new earth (cf. 2 Pet 3:13), where men and women will dwell in justice and harmony, in joyful expectation of the fulfilment of the Lord’s promises” (Spes non confundit §25).