Rome had been preparing for years for this extraordinary event: Welcoming an estimated 30 million Jubilee pilgrims over the course of a year. The final numbers were even higher:
The great jubilee of 2025 has come to an end. Rich in events and surprises, this Jubilee of Hope was opened by one pope and closed by another.
In the months leading up to the Jubilee’s opening, the Eternal City was covered with construction sites, scaffolding, temporary barricades, cranes, excavators, and drilling machines ... Many historic squares and monuments were given a facelift and large spaces reserved for pedestrians, the road network being restructured.
Additional bus services were promised, and hotel residences were snapped up. This brought much delight to the tourism industry, which has bounced back strongly five years after the COVID crisis.
Similarly, the area around the Vatican was transformed: more than just a facelift, the jubilee has left a visible mark on the center of Rome. It’s impossible to walk through the streets without coming across a shop selling merchandise bearing the jubilee logo, or without being blocked at some point by the “corridor” on Via della Conciliazione reserved for groups of pilgrims. With its deployment of rows of volunteers — more than 50,000 members of the civil protection service — the Holy Year was the heartbeat of the St. Peter's district.
Pope Francis’ leadership
The entire Catholic Church also prepared for this moment, under the leadership of Pope Francis. He chose the theme of “Hope,” proclaimed the Bull of Indiction, and approved the program put together by the dicastery for Evangelization — including numerous “jubilee” audiences on Saturdays, to give the faithful an occasion other than the Wednesday audiences to be with the Vicar of Christ.
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Putting his own personal stamp on this jubilee, the pontiff of the peripheries also chose to open a Holy Door in Rebibbia prison, in eastern Rome.
When he inaugurated the Holy Door of St. Peter's, the most symbolic of all, on December 24, 2024, we were expecting 12 months of continuous events where the voice of the tireless Argentine pope, familiar with improvisations and spectacular gestures, would resound.
But we ended up with something completely different.
The year had barely begun when the 88-year-old pope, prone to respiratory ailments, had to apologize. Bronchitis was preventing him from reading his speeches and meditations himself. In his wheelchair, the man in white showed signs of great fatigue and had to postpone certain appointments.
Bidding farewell to Pope Francis
The weeks passed ... until February 14, when the Vatican announced that the Pope had been hospitalized at Gemelli. The Jubilee took a hit during Francis' 38 days in the hospital. The Pope’s medical reports revealed pneumonia and severe respiratory crises, and Jubilee events were reduced.
In the middle of winter, a shadow hung over the Holy Year, and its progress seemed to be put on hold. While passing through the Holy Door is the pilgrim's main goal, Rome's attraction also lies in the presence of Peter's Successor. When Francis left the hospital on March 23, visibly weakened, it was not to resume presiding over the celebrations, but to continue his convalescence.
The people of God were forced to continue their jubilee in an atmosphere tinged with unreality, without the pope, who was confined to his residence.
In this uncertain context, pilgrims who had reserved their passage through the Holy Door during Easter Week experienced a turning point on April 21: the death of Francis, which sent shockwaves of surprise throughout the world. Among them, thousands of teenagers, gathered for their own jubilee, unexpectedly found themselves witnessing the historic sequence of the funeral of the 266th pope.
A Jubilee conclave
The Jubilee and the vacancy of the Apostolic See collided, turning many plans on their heads in these intense hours for the Catholic Church.
Pilgrims, tourists, onlookers, and Romans mingled in St. Peter's Square to await the “white smoke” of the conclave and rejoiced with enthusiasm at the “Habemus Papam” on May 8.
Appearing at the loggia of St. Peter's and proclaiming peace, the new Pope Leo XIV took up the torch of the Jubilee bequeathed by his predecessor and by centuries-old tradition.
Less than three months after his election, the American-Peruvian pontiff presided over a highlight of the Jubilee, the gathering of young people in Rome.
During this week, which resembled World Youth Day, Rome's organizational capacity was put to the test. Naturally, there were some logistical failures amidst the overall success; some young people found themselves scrambling for accommodations.
See you in seven years
Still, nothing dampened the dynamism of the Jubilee. In the fall, St. Peter's Square was bursting with people and there were long lines to enter the basilica. This prompted Archbishop Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, to say at the end of the year: “We had incredible peaks, increases, numbers ... .”
On Rai1 television, the organizer of the Holy Year reported that the number of pilgrims exceeded 33 million. For the Italian archbishop, this numerical success shows “with extreme clarity” that, in an increasingly secularized world, “we retain a deep sense of the search for God and spirituality.”
“The more technology increases in our lives, the more we feel nostalgia for moments of true and authentic spirituality,” he said.
For his part, Pope Leo XIV said at Christmas that the fruits of the Jubilee will remain: “The holy doors will close, but Christ, our hope, will always remain with us.”
What also made this “ordinary” jubilee unique was that it was sandwiched between two “extraordinary” jubilees: that of 2016, which Pope Francis had dedicated to mercy, and that of 2033, for the 2,000th anniversary of Christ's death and resurrection.
So, we’ll see you again ... in seven years.
