The Jubilee 2025 Holy Year will run from December 24, 2024 to January 6, 2026. It will have its official start when Pope Francis opens the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica. At the last Jubilee, Pope John Paul II opened the Holy Door on Christmas Eve, 1999. Pope Francis will also do so to inaugurate Jubilee 2025.

Pope Francis announced the official Jubilee 2025 dates in the Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee, which is traditionally published on the feast of the Ascension the year prior to the Holy Year, which in 2024 fell on May 9.

The Vatican Jubilee is a Holy Year proclaimed by the Roman Catholic Church that takes place only once every 25 years. It is an important religious event that in 2025 begins on Christmas Eve 2024 and ends on the Epiphany, January 6, 2026.

It is a year of reconciliation and forgiveness of sins. The Catholic faithful can receive a special Jubilee plenary indulgence (the complete remission of all temporal punishment due to sin) if they meet certain conditions, which may include making a pilgrimage to a Jubilee shrine or place.

The Holy Doors are an important component of a Jubilee Year. In Rome, the city’s four major papal basilicas (St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran, St. Paul Outside the Walls, St. Mary Major) each have a special door designated as a Holy Door, which is an entrance portal into the church that is normally sealed shut with mortar and cement. During Jubilee Years, the Holy Doors are ceremoniously opened to pilgrims from all over the world, who can pass through the open doorway as part of their religious pilgrimage. Passing through a Holy Door is one of the prescribed works that a pilgrim can perform in order to receive a plenary indulgence.

The theme, or motto, of the Jubilee Year in 2025 is “Pilgrims of Hope.” There is a colorful Jubilee 2025 logo that represents this theme. The Jubilee Holy Year is an important time for pilgrimage by religious pilgrims from around the world. There are many Jubilee itineraries that pilgrims can take once they reach the city of Rome and the Vatican.

Jubilee 2025 includes many events that start even before the opening of the Holy Door. The Vatican publishes the official Jubilee events calendar on its website.

Here are some highlights of events planned for Jubilee 2025:

• Opening of the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica, December 24, 2024
• 24 Hours for the Lord, March 8-9, 2025
• Jubilee of the Sick and the World of Health, April 5, 2025
• Jubilee of Families, May 30, 2025
• Jubilee of Young People, July 28, 2025
• Jubilee of Grandparents, October 4, 2025

Roman Catholic pilgrims can gain a Jubilee plenary indulgence under certain conditions set forth in Pope Francis’s Decree on the Granting of the Indulgence During the Ordinary Jubilee Year 2025. The decree states that religious pilgrims can obtain “a plenary indulgence, with remission and forgiveness of all their sins, which can be applied in suffrage to the souls in Purgatory” in a number of ways, including: pilgrimage to any sacred Jubilee site, to one of the four Major Papal Basilicas in Rome, to the Holy Land; pious visits to sacred places (as specified in the decree); or through works of mercy and penance (as specified in the decree).

The city of Rome has estimated over 30 million people will visit Rome and the Vatican for the 2025 Holy Year.

The Vatican has inaugurated a special Pilgrim Center – Jubilee Information Point for visitors and religious pilgrims, located in the Vatican on via della Conciliazione 7. The information center is open seven days a week from 10 am to 5 pm. The information center distributes leaflets and flyers with information and also distributes the “testimonium” for religious pilgrims. This is the document that certifies the religious pilgrimage.

The Jubilee Pilgrim’s Card is a free digital card required for visitors who wish to access any and all Jubilee 2025 events, including passage through the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica. The Pilgrim’s Card is available exclusively at the official Vatican Jubilee website.