Pope Leo XIV closed the final "Holy Door" in St Peter's Basilica in Rome on January 6, the day of Epiphany, signalling the end of the 2025 Jubilee year that drew millions of pilgrims to the city. This jubilee was also unique: the last time there were two popes due to the first one passing away during a "Holy Year" was in 1700. FRANCE 24's Josephine McKenna tells us more from Rome.

Rome

The Vatican marked the end of the 2025 Jubilee year as the final pilgrims passed through the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica, with more than 33 million people having traveled to Rome for the occasion. Pope Leo, the first American Pope, officially closed the Holy Year by shutting the Basilica's door, a tradition that occurs every 25 years and serves as a period of reflection and penance for over 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide.

This Jubilee was notable for the transition between popes, as Pope Francis opened the Holy Door before his passing, and Pope Leo closed it. Pope Leo's early papacy has been characterized by messages of mercy, compassion, and support for marginalized groups, with close attention on his future actions and travels as the Church enters a new chapter.

Final pilgrims cross Holy Door as Vatican claims Jubilee success

The final pilgrims of the 2025 Jubilee year passed through the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica on Monday, some of more than 33 million people to travel to Rome for the occasion, according to the Vatican. Pope Leo is officially closing out the Holy Year this Tuesday by shutting the Basilica's door opened by his predecessor, Francis. Held by the Church every 25 years, the Jubilee is a period of reflection and penance for the world's over 1.4 billion Catholics. On this last Holy Year, we can cross live to Josephine McKenna. Josephine, tell us then, is it rare for one Pope to open the Holy Door and then another to close it? I think it might be unprecedented, I can't be sure about that, but it certainly has been a remarkable year. When we look back, we saw a very frail Pope Francis open the Holy Door at St. Peter's a year ago. He fell ill in February, of course, and recovered, but then we saw him greet the crowds one last time on Easter Sunday before he passed away. And then with the election of Pope Leo, the first American Pope, we've seen such a dramatic change in the Church and met a great deal of speculation about what this means for the future of the Catholic Church. So in a way, the election of Pope Leo rejuvenated this special year, this year that only happens every 25 years. And we had, as you said, millions of pilgrims come from all over the world to pay homage and to pray here at St. Peter's in Rome. We can see those live pictures on our screen of that mass led by Pope Leo there. And you said that there was a dramatic change when he took on the papacy. What can we expect from Pope Leo then in the coming year? Well, I say a dramatic change. It's more of a change, I think, in personality than politics. Pope Leo has been quite conservative, easing into his role. But we're now seeing more pronouncements that are quite in line with his predecessor, messages of mercy and compassion, anti-capitalism, support for immigrants and refugees. He's spoken out against or in favour of Palestinians in Gaza. And he's also spoken out this week calling for the sovereignty of Venezuela to be protected after the arrest of President Maduro. So we're starting to see this emergence of what Pope Leo's mission will be. And I think there'll be a great deal of attention on where he may travel to next. He did his first overseas trip, of course, to Turkey and Lebanon in November. But that was largely seen as a continuation of the plans that Pope Francis had to visit the Middle East. So what will he be doing next and what will he be saying next? I think there'll be a great deal of attention on the next chapter of Pope Leo.

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Breakdown