In the rhythm of a Holy Year, opening the Holy Doors begins the pilgrimage; closing them completes its meaning. It’s a simple yet powerful gesture: shutting the threshold doesn’t extinguish hope, it entrusts it to daily life. In this Jubilee of Hope, that passage will unfold in two distinct moments between late 2025 and early 2026.

This two-step cadence allows pilgrims to take leave in an ordered way: first the three patriarchal basilicas, then St. Peter’s, the heart of Catholicism, where the rite closes the Jubilee’s circle.

Among the strongest signs of the 2025 Jubilee was the opening of a Holy Door at Rome’s Rebibbia prison on 26 December 2024: an unprecedented gesture meant to carry hope “beyond the walls” and to remind everyone that no one is excluded from mercy.
For the closing: the Dicastery has set 28 December 2025 as the conclusion of the Jubilee in particular Churches, a criterion also followed by the diocese’s “special” Jubilee sites (such as Rebibbia); local chapel times and rite details are indicated by the prison chaplaincy. In the absence of a different official notice, the diocesan date of 28 December 2025 remains the reference.

Closure is not an ending; it’s an entrustment. The liturgical sign moves the grace received back into ordinary time: the pilgrim returns home with a renewed responsibility to continue in daily life what began during the Jubilee. For this reason, the conclusion in the major basilicas is conceived as a communal action: sober processions, prayer for the universal Church, and concrete gestures of charity.

Many faithful keep a small sign of their passage: a simple cross or a medal, a discreet memory of the Holy Year. During the closing celebrations, that object becomes a reminder: the Jubilee doesn’t really end; it continues in service, reconciliation, and everyday hope.