Closing of the Jubilee at St. Peter's

On the 6th January, the day of the Epiphany, in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Jubilee journey experienced its last passage. During the morning, Pope Leo XIV presided over the rite of closing the Holy Door in the Basilica, a simple and solemn gesture that sealed the Holy Year that began on December 24, 2024. In an atmosphere of prayerful silence, with the passage through the threshold and its subsequent closing, he entrusted to God's mercy the prayers and tears of so many "pilgrims of hope" who in recent months have crossed that door in search of reconciliation and peace. 

Immediately afterwards, the Holy Father celebrated the Mass of the Epiphany and, commenting on the Gospel of Matthew, recalled how the Gospel describes "the great joy of the Magi in seeing the star again", but also "the turmoil felt by Herod and all Jerusalem" in the face of their search. The Pope emphasized that Scripture, when it speaks of the manifestations of God, never hides these contrasts of feelings: "joy and turmoil, resistance and obedience, fear and desire," showing how the encounter with the Lord always shakes false securities. In this context, he linked the gesture of closing the Holy Door to the interior journey of the Magi, a sign of a passage from a habitual faith to a living search for God. From here Leo highlighted the meaning of the Epiphany as the beginning of a new hope just as the Holy Year ends. "Today we celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord, aware that in his presence nothing remains as before. This is the beginning of hope," he said, explaining that when God reveals himself "nothing can stand still" and that false tranquility that leads to repeating: "There is nothing new under the sun" ends. Recalling the words of the prophet Isaiah – "Arise, be clothed with light, for your light is coming, the glory of the Lord shines upon you" – the Pope invited the faithful to read the closing of the Holy Door not as a formal conclusion, but as the beginning of a time in which "the present and the future depend on the way in which we welcome this light".  so that Jubilee grace may continue to work in personal, ecclesial and social life. 

At noon, in the Angelus prayer from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Leo recalled that Christian joy is born from the manifestation of God in Jesus, who gives us hope even in difficulties because "God saves". He explained that in Christ the divine life was revealed that frees us from fears and builds peace, inviting us to communion and sharing. Linking the gifts of the Magi to the Jubilee that has just ended, the Pope urged people to give all of themselves so that the Kingdom of Jesus may grow, transforming adversaries into brothers and sisters, inequalities into equity and war into a craft of peace. He concluded by inviting everyone to be "weavers of hope", walking towards the future by another path, with a concrete hope that comes from heaven and renews the earth.

Read Pope Leo's homily 
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