The concluding rite of the Holy Year in the Liberian Basilica will be celebrated on the evening of December 25th. This will be followed on Saturday 27th by the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano and, on Sunday 28th, by San Paolo Fuori le Mura
Vatican News
The Holy Door of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore will be the first of the 2025 Jubilee to be closed. The ceremony will be held on Christmas Day at 5 pm and will be presided over by the cardinal archpriest of the Liberian Basilica, Rolandas Makrickas. Following this, on Saturday 27 December, the closing of the Holy Door of the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano will take place. The rite is scheduled for 11 am and will be presided over by Cardinal Archpriest Baldo Reina. The following day, Sunday 28 December, the cardinal archpriest of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, James Michael Harvey, will preside over the similar rite of the closing of the Holy Door.
The ceremony in Santa Maria Maggiore
Opened on January 1, 2025, the Holy Door of the Liberian Basilica has seen more than twenty million pilgrims and faithful pass through its doors. The closing date was not chosen randomly: Santa Maria Maggiore, in fact, is the Basilica of Holy Christmas, guardian of the relics of the Sacred Cradle where the newborn Baby Jesus was placed. The ceremony will begin with the singing of the Second Vespers and, following, at 6.00 pm, the rite of closing the Holy Door, accompanied by the ringing of the Sperduta, the ancient bell of the Basilica. To make preparation for the rites possible, the Basilica will close to the public at 3.00 pm. Access will then resume at 4.00 pm and will be permitted, until all available places are filled, only and exclusively for participation in the scheduled celebrations. However, their broadcast on a maxi-screen located in Piazza di Santa Maria Maggiore will also be guaranteed, for the benefit of those outside.
The rites at San Giovanni in Laterano and San Paolo Fuori le Mura
The closing rite of the Holy Door of the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano will be followed by the Eucharistic celebration, animated by the choir of the Diocese of Rome directed by Monsignor Marco Frisina. During the Holy Year, the Holy Door of San Giovanni in Laterano was crossed by the faithful of many Roman parishes: the parish communities, in fact, alone or organized into prefectures, mostly chose to organize their Jubilee at the cathedral of Rome. The faithful will be able to enter the basilica with a free ticket, from 8.00 to 10.00. When the Holy Door of the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls closes, it will be possible to participate freely without any ticket.
