US EditionAs Holy Doors Close, Cardinals Emphasize God’s Arms Are Always Open
Cardinal Harvey led the Mass and ceremonially closed the Holy Door to conclude the Jubilee year, urging pilgrims to witness hope and mercy amid global crises.
- On Sunday morning, 28 December, Cardinal James Michael Harvey, Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls, presided at Mass and knelt to close the Holy Door, concluding the basilica's holy‑year passage with a Eucharistic celebration.
- Cardinal Harvey said the rite marked the end of the basilica's holy‑year passage and called pilgrims to 'return to the world' bearing witness, as diocesan and local Jubilee celebrations concluded Dec. 28.
- Kneeling before the door, the ceremony included a period of contemplative silence and the Holy Door's three panels recall Holy Year 2000 preparation under the cross inscribed 'Spes unica' with an engraved phrase referencing the 'gift of peace.'
- An estimated 20 million pilgrims passed through the basilica's Holy Door in the past year, and speakers stressed that though the door closes, God's mercy and the 'door of faith, charity and hope' remain open.
- Following St Mary Major on Dec. 25 and St John Lateran on Dec. 27, this basilica's closing was the third this week, with Pope Leo set to close St Peter's Holy Door on January 6 and Holy Doors bricked up between Jubilee years.
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As Holy Doors close, cardinals emphasize God’s arms are always open
ROME (CNS) — The path to conversion, the door to God’s mercy and the call to live in Christian hope all continue beyond the Jubilee Year, said the three cardinals who closed the Holy Doors at three major basilicas in Rome. On the feast of the Epiphany, Jan. 6, Pope Leo will solemnly close the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, formally concluding the Holy Year 2025, which Pope Francis opened on Christmas Eve 2024. But diocesan and…
Cardinal Harvey closes Holy Door at St Paul's Outside the Walls
In his homily during Mass in the papal basilica of St Paul’s Outside the Walls, Cardinal James Harvey reaffirms the central theme of the Jubilee: a trusting confidence capable of passing through history without succumbing to “naïve optimism.” Read all
As Holy Doors Close, Cardinals Emphasize God's Arms Are Always Open - The Good Newsroom
As Holy Doors Close, Cardinals Emphasize God's Arms Are Always Open Pope Leo XIV | 12/29/2025 By: OSV News Three cardinals mark the conclusion of local Jubilee celebrations at Rome’s major basilicas Cardinal James M. Harvey, archpriest of Rome's Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls stands in front of the basilica's Holy Door afte…
The Holy Door of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls has been closed. The event is part of the rituals marking the end of the Jubilee Year 2025.
This Sunday the Holy Door was officially closed in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, in the Vatican, and with it the closing of the Jubilee of Hope in three of the four Papal Basilicas. The ceremony, in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, was in charge of Cardinal James Michael Harvey, archpriest of this church, where he pointed out that it was concluded “a time, but God’s mercy remains perpetually open.” The closing of the Hol…
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