The closing rite of the Holy Year in the Liberian Basilica will be celebrated on the afternoon of December 25. It will be followed, on Saturday the 27th, by the Basilica of Saint John Lateran and, on Sunday the 28th, Saint Paul Outside the Walls.
Vatican News
The Holy Door of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major will be the first of Jubilee 2025 to be closed. The ceremony will take place on Christmas Day at 5:00 p.m. and will be presided over by the Cardinal Archpriest of the Liberian Basilica, Rolandas Makrickas.
Next, on Saturday, December 27, the closing of the Holy Door of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran will take place. The rite is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. and will be presided over by Cardinal Archpriest Baldo Reina, Vicar General of His Holiness for the Diocese of Rome.
The following day, Sunday, December 28, the Cardinal Archpriest of the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, James Michael Harvey, will preside over the analogous closing rite of the Holy Door.
The rite in Santa María la Mayor
Opened on January 1, 2025, the Holy Door of the Liberian Basilica has seen more than twenty million pilgrims and faithful cross its doors. The closing date has not been chosen at random: Santa María Maggiore, in fact, is the Basilica of Holy Christmas, custody of the relics of the Sacred Cradle where the newborn Baby Jesus was placed.
The ceremony will begin with the singing of Second Vespers and, then, at 6:00 p.m., the rite of closing the Holy Door will take place, accompanied by the sound of the Lostthe old bell of the Basilica.
To allow preparation for the rites, the Basilica will close to the public at 3:00 p.m. Access will resume at 4:00 p.m. and will be allowed, until capacity is reached, solely and exclusively to participate in the scheduled celebrations. However, its transmission will be guaranteed on a giant screen located in the Plaza de Santa María la Mayor for the benefit of those who are abroad.
The Holy Year 2025 has represented a providential event for the entire Church, inviting all believers to a renewed conversion of heart under the sign of the virtue of a hope that never disappoints.
This is a particular Jubilee that, called by Pope Francis with the Bull Hope does not disappointwas inaugurated by the same Pontiff with the opening of the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica on December 24, 2024, but will be concluded by Pope Leo a precedent: the Jubilee of 1700, opened by Innocent XII and closed by Clement XI, as the Liberian Basilica recalls in a statement.
For the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major, this circumstance has taken on additional meaning, considering that Pope Francis chose it as his earthly burial place. The jubilee pilgrimage, piously carried out by millions of people, has thus become a moving and lasting tribute to the memory of Pope Francis, which still continues.
The simple tomb of Pope Francis in the Basilica of Santa María Maggiore
The long access queues that extend orderly around its perimeter have become a common image and have transmitted, in the simplest but most effective way possible, the affection that united it to the people of God. Likewise, it is worth remembering the nearly eighty visits made by official delegations from all the countries of the world who wanted to pray at his grave on behalf of the peoples and nations of the Earth.
The rites in Saint John Lateran and Saint Paul Outside the Walls
The closing rite of the Holy Door of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran 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 Saint John Lateran has been crossed by faithful from many Roman parishes: the parish communities, in fact, alone or integrated into prefectures, have mostly chosen to organize their own Jubilee in the cathedral of Rome. The faithful will be able to access the basilica with free admission, from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
On the contrary, in the closing of the Holy Door of the Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls you will be able to participate freely without needing a ticket.
Finally, the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica will be closed on January 6, 2026, on the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, by Pope Leo XIV. In this way, the Ordinary Jubilee of 2025 will officially conclude.
