VATICAN CITY (AP) 鈥� Pope Francis on Tuesday opens the , kicking off a celebration of the Catholic Church that is expected to draw some 32 million pilgrims to Rome and test the pope's stamina and the ability of the Eternal City to welcome them.
At the start of Christmas Eve Mass, Francis pushes open the great Holy Door at the entrance of St. Peter鈥檚 Basilica. The ceremony inaugurates the once-every-25-year tradition of a Jubilee, in which the Catholic faithful make pilgrimages to Rome.
Francis has dedicated the 2025 Jubilee to the theme of hope, and he will underscore that message when he opens a Holy Door on Thursday at Rome鈥檚 Rebibbia prison in a bid to give inmates hope for a better future. Francis has long incorporated prison ministry into his priestly vocation, and has and other prisons during his travels.
Security around the Vatican was at its highest levels following the Christmas , the interior ministry said.
Italian authorities were using extra police patrols and camera surveillance around Rome, while pilgrims faced metal detectors and other security checks to access St. Peter's Square via a reinforced police barricade passage.
Francis, who turned 88 last week, went into the Christmas week and Jubilee launch with a cold that forced him to deliver his weekly Sunday blessing from indoors. His health and stamina, already compromised because of his , are a concern given the rigorous calendar of events during the Holy Year.
One of the highlights will be the canonization of the teenage , considered the first millennial and digital-era saint, during the Jubilee dedicated to adolescents in April.
This week, Francis celebrates Christmas Eve Mass on Tuesday evening and then delivers his annual 鈥淯rbi et Orbi鈥� (to the city and the world) speech on Christmas Day from the loggia of St. Peter鈥檚 Basilica. In addition to the outing at Rebibbia, he will celebrate New Year鈥檚 Eve vespers and a New Year鈥檚 Day Mass.
The city of Rome is going into the Jubilee . It has undergone two years of traffic-clogging public works upgrades of transportation, hospital emergency rooms and other vital services, testing residents' patience.
But only about a third of the 323 projects have been completed, and the city is already groaning under the weight of overtourism. Visitors have returned to Italy in droves following COVID-19, and the explosion of short-term vacation rentals has exacerbated a housing crisis.
Some of Rome's prized monuments have reopened recently, . And the main Jubilee project was finished just in time: A pedestrian piazza linking Castel St. Angelo to the Via della Conciliazione, the main boulevard leading to St. Peter鈥檚 Square, was unveiled Monday.
Vatican officials insist that Rome has a tradition of welcoming pilgrims and point to how past Jubilees have left their mark on the Eternal City鈥檚 urban and spiritual landscape. The Sistine Chapel was commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV for the Jubilee of 1475, and the big Vatican garage was built for the 2000 Jubilee under St. John Paul II.
Pope Boniface VII called the first Holy Year in 1300, and in recent times they are generally celebrated every 25 to 50 years. Pilgrims who participate can obtain 鈥渋ndulgences鈥� 鈥� the related to the forgiveness of sins that roughly amounts to a 鈥済et out of Purgatory free鈥� card.
Francis declared a special Jubilee in and the next one is planned for 2033 to commemorate the anniversary of the crucifixion of Christ.
The last regular Jubilee was in 2000, when St. John Paul II ushered in the church鈥檚 third millennium. The one before that, in 1975, was notable because Pope Paul VI was nearly hit by falling plaster when he opened the Holy Door. The door was still behind a fake wall and Paul had used a ceremonial hammer to bang on it three times to open it. The fake wall now is removed well in advance.
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Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press
