On Christmas Eve 2024, on the eve of Christmas, Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, officially beginning the Jubilee of Hope 2025.
In the ceremony, the Holy Father assured that as this jubilee year begins “we enter the time of mercy and forgiveness, so that the path of hope that does not disappoint may be revealed to every man and woman.”
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Later the Pope approached the Holy Door, praying briefly before it. After knocking on the door, it was opened and the Holy Father crossed it towards the altar of Confession, the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica.
Having concluded the rite of opening the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, the Pope celebrated Holy Mass on the night of the Nativity of the Lord.
After proclaiming the announcement of the birth of the Lord, the image of the Child Jesus placed on a throne in front of the altar was revealed. A group of children of different nationalities surrounded the Baby Jesus and paid tribute to him by placing flowers around him.
“The door of hope has been opened wide to the world”
In his homily, Pope Francis assured that “among the astonishment of the poor and the singing of the angels, heaven opened on earth; God became one of us to make us like Him, He descended among us to elevate us and take us to the embrace of the Father.”
“This, brothers, sisters, is our hope. God is the Immanuel, the ‘God with us’. The infinitely great became small; the divine light shone among the darkness of the world; in the smallness of a Child,” he said.
“And if God comes, even when our heart resembles a poor manger, then we can say: hope has not died, hope is alive, and it envelops our lives forever,” he highlighted.
The Holy Father then said that “with the opening of the Holy Door we begin a new Jubilee. “Each one of us can enter into the mystery of this announcement of grace.”
“On this night, the door of hope has been opened wide to the world; On this night, God says to each one: there is hope for you too!
“There is hope for each of us,” he said, briefly departing from the previously prepared homily. “But do not forget, brothers and sisters, that God forgives everything, that God always forgives. “Don’t forget this,” he added.
“To welcome this gift, we are called to set out with the amazement of the shepherds of Bethlehem. The Gospel says that they, having received the angel’s announcement, ‘went quickly’. This is the sign to recover lost hope: to renew it within us, to sow it quickly in the desolations of our time and our world.”
“And there are so many desolations in our time. Let’s think about wars, let’s think about children being machine-gunned, about bombs in schools and hospitals,” he said.
“Christian hope,” the Pope specified, “is not a happy ending that must be passively waited for; is not a happy ending from a movie; It is the promise of the Lord that we must accept here and now, in this land that suffers and groans. This hope, therefore, asks us not to delay, not to let ourselves be carried away by routine, not to stop in mediocrity and laziness.”
Following the example of the shepherds, the Pontiff specified that “the hope that is born on this night does not tolerate the indolence of the sedentary nor the laziness of those who settle for their own well-being. And so many of us are in danger of settling into our comforts.”
“Hope does not admit the false prudence of those who do not take risks for fear of committing themselves, nor the calculation of those who only think of themselves; “Hope is incompatible with the quiet life of those who do not raise their voices against evil or against the injustices that are committed on the skin of the poorest.”
The Pope said that on the contrary, “Christian hope, while inviting us to patiently wait for the Kingdom that germinates and grows, demands of us the audacity to anticipate this promise today, through our responsibility. And not only of our responsibility but also of our compassion.”
“It will also do us good to ask ourselves about our own compassion: Do I have compassion? Do I know how to suffer with? Let’s think about this,” he encouraged.
“This is the time of hope”
“Brothers and sisters, this is the Jubilee, this is the time of hope. “This invites us to rediscover the joy of the encounter with the Lord, calls us to spiritual renewal and commits us to the transformation of the world, so that this truly becomes a time of jubilation,” he expressed.
The Pope assured that “all of us have the gift and the task of bringing hope where it has been lost; there where life is wounded, in betrayed expectations, in broken dreams, in failures that destroy the heart; in the fatigue of those who can’t take it anymore, in the bitter loneliness of those who feel defeated, in the suffering that devastates the soul; in the long and empty days of the prisoners, in the narrow and cold rooms of the poor, in the places desecrated by war and violence.”
“The Jubilee opens so that everyone may be given the hope of the Gospel, the hope of love, the hope of forgiveness,” he highlighted.
“Sister, brother, tonight the ‘holy door’ of God’s heart opens for you. Jesus, God with us, is born for you, for us, for every man and woman. And with Him joy blossoms, with Him life changes, with Him hope does not disappoint,” he concluded.
David Ramos
Graduated in Communication Sciences from the Universidad Privada del Norte in Trujillo, Peru. With more than 12 years of experience in Catholic journalism working at ACI Prensa, I have been based in Mexico since 2018. I have covered Pope Francis’ trips to Ecuador, Paraguay, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Panama.