Closing of the Holy Door of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major

The Holy Door of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major will be the first Holy Door of the Jubilee 2025 to be closed, during an intense programme of celebrations to take place in the evening of this coming 25 December.

Opened on 1 January 2025, the Holy Door of the Liberian Basilica has been crossed by more than twenty million pilgrims and faithful who wished to celebrate here, beneath the maternal gaze of the Salus Populi Romani, their Jubilee of Hope.

The date of the closure was not chosen by chance: indeed, Saint Mary Major is the Basilica of the Holy Nativity, which preserves the relics of the Holy Crib where the newborn infant Jesus was laid. The Crib of Our Lord indeed bears witness to the hope that is the theme of the Holy Year 2025, reminding us all that the foundation of faith is the proclamation of the Good News of God made man for love of humanity and its salvation.

The ceremony, presided over by His Eminence Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, Archpriest of the Papal Basilica, will begin at 17.00 with the singing of Second Vespers and, at 18.00. the rite of the closure of the Holy Door, accompanied by the sound of the Sperduta, the ancient bell whose story recalls the very meaning of pilgrimage: a journey that is not aimless wandering, but a path where one is accompanied by the benevolent gaze of the Lord, who guides the steps of every man towards a sure destination.

The celebration will conclude with the Eucharist.

To allow for the preparation of the rites, the Basilica will close to the public at 15.00. Access will resume at 16.00 and will be permitted subject to the availability of places, only and exclusively for participation in the planned celebrations. However, the celebrations will also be broadcast on a large screen located in Piazza di Santa Maria Maggiore, for the benefit of those outside. The celebration can be followed via live streaming on the Basilica's official Facebook page (@ Basilica Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore), via Telepace Channel 75 and Channel 76 on digital terrestrial television and, finally, via live streaming on the website: https://app.telepace.it/#/diretta

The Holy Year 2025 was a providential event for the whole Church, inviting all believers to a renewed conversion of heart in the sign of the virtue of hope that never disappoints. This special Jubilee, proclaimed by Pope Francis with the Papal Bull Spes non confundit, was opened by the Pope himself but concluded by Pope Leo XIV, elected Supreme Pontiff on 8 May 2025, after the death of Pope Francis on 21 April 2025. The extraordinary event of the opening and closing rites of the Holy Year under two different pontificates has only one precedent in the Jubilee of 1700, opened by Innocent XII and closed by Clement XI.

For the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major, this circumstance is even more meaningful, given that Pope Francis chose the Basilica as the place of his earthly entombment. The Jubilee pilgrimage, piously carried out by millions of people, also thus became a moving and lasting tribute to the memory of Pope Francis, which is still ongoing. The long lines to enter, which wind in an orderly fashion around the entire perimeter of the Basilica have become a familiar sight and have communicated, in the simplest but most effective way possible, the affection that bound him to the People of God. We also fondly remember the approximately eighty visits made by official delegations from all over the world who wanted to pray at his tomb on behalf of the peoples and nations of the Earth.

Art-historical note on the Holy Door of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major

The Holy Door of the Papal Basilica was created by sculptor Luigi Enzo Mattei and inaugurated by Saint John Paul II on 8 December 2001. It was opened for the first time by Pope Francis on 1 January 2016 on the occasion of the Jubilee of Mercy. Inspired by the image of the man on the Shroud, it depicts Christ appearing to the Virgin Mary, Salus Populi Romani. At the top left is the Annunciation to Mary, and on the right, Pentecost. At the bottom left is the Council of Ephesus, which decreed Mary to be the Mother of God, and on the right is the Second Vatican Council, which proclaimed her to be the Mother of the Church.