Jubilee 2025: Saint Peter celebrates traditional recognitio to demolish the wall of the Holy Door

On the night of December 2, the rite of the recognition (verification, in Latin), a traditional ceremony intended to verify and verify that the Holy Door, closed during the last Holy Year, is intact, sealed and ready to be reopened at the beginning of the new Jubilee 2025.

The pilgrimage to the Holy Doors is a central event of the Jubilee. Passing through them during the Holy Year symbolizes the entry into a new life in Christ and the beginning of a path of conversion.

The ceremony opened with a prayer led by the Cardinal Archpriest of the Basilica, Mauro Gambetti. Next, the cobblestonesemployees of the St. Peter’s Factory who are responsible for the surveillance and maintenance of the Vatican basilica, demolished the wall that seals the Holy Door inside the temple.

Once the wall that protects the Holy Door was demolished, they extracted a metal box preserved inside since the closing of the Jubilee of Mercy, on November 20, 2016.

In the box is kept the key with which the Holy Father will open the Holy Door on the night of December 24. It also guards the handles, the parchment of the Minutes that certifies its closure, four golden bricks and some medals, among them those of the pontificates of Francis, Benedict XVI and Saint John Paul II.

Cardinal Gambetti was in charge of leading a procession, with the singing of the litanies of the saints, from the Holy Door to the Altar of Confession, where he stopped for a moment in prayer.

The participants in the rite then went to the Chapter House, where the metal box taken from the Holy Door was opened. Present were Mons. Rino Fisichella, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, and Archbishop Diego Ravelli, Master of the Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations, who received the documents and objects of the recognitionwhich will be delivered tomorrow afternoon to Pope Francis.

This afternoon the same ceremony will be held for the Holy Door of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, on December 5 the rite of the recognition in San Pablo Outside the Walls and on December 6 in Santa María la Mayor.

A ceremony full of meaning

The Jubilee Year, one of the most anticipated and momentous events of the Catholic Church, is marked by different solemn ceremonies with centuries of tradition.

In 1499, Pope Alexander VI wanted to define the ceremonial norms of the Jubilee. This task was entrusted to the then master of ceremonies, Johannes Bruckard, who established different rites that continue to be celebrated today, although with some variations.

From the Jubilee of 1500 until 1975, it was the Pontiff who began the demolition of the wall that closed the Holy Door. With a hammer, made of gold and then silver, he hit the wall 3 times symbolically. Later, the bricklayers were in charge of completely demolishing it.

The wall used to be covered by a simple wooden door, which was removed and replaced at the beginning and conclusion of each Holy Year. However, on December 24, 1949, it was replaced by a bronze door blessed by Pope Pius XII.

John Paul II was the first who did not use the hammer during the beginning of the Jubilee of 1975. Also this year the closing rite of the Holy Door was modified, since the trowel and bricks were no longer used, simply closing the leaves of the door. bronze door, giving greater prominence to the door than to the wall.

That same year, the tradition of including a metal chest inside the wall began, since previously symbolic elements such as golden bricks were inserted into the mixture with which the wall was built again.

During the Jubilees of the 20th century, each of the steps that make up the rite of the recognition Among them is the demolition of the wall, the recovery of symbolic objects and the solemn procession with liturgical songs.