Pope Francis has launched a special jubilee year for Roman Catholics during a ceremony on Christmas Eve at the Vatican.
The Pope marked the start of the jubilee by opening the usually bricked-up Holy Door at St Peter’s Basilica.
In the quiet of Christmas Eve, Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, launching what he called a “Jubilee of Hope.”
As the doors opened, the bells of the basilica began to peal.
After the reading of a brief passage from the Gospel of John in which Jesus describes himself as “the door,” Pope Francis briefly left the atrium of the basilica, creating some confusion. But when the cardinals in the front row sat down, the others did likewise.
Three minutes later, the pope returned. He was pushed in his wheelchair up the ramp to the Holy Door. In silence, he raised himself from the chair to knock five times, and aides inside slowly opened the door, which had been framed in a garland of green pine branches, decorated with red roses and gold pinecones.
Jubilees take place only once every 25 years, and more than 30 million pilgrims are expected to head to Rome to pass through the door and seek forgiveness for their sins.
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