Sitting in a wheelchair, Pope Francis opened the holy gates of St. Peter's Basilica, and thus the jubilee holy year began, the very first event of which is the celebratory mass, which the head of the church led in the basilica on Christmas Eve.
The holy gate is not a magic gate, it does not perform any miracles, but it invites you to meet Christ, Father András Törő, rector of the Pontifical Hungarian Institute in Rome, who participated in the opening of the holy gate of St. Peter's Basilica on Tuesday evening, told MTI.
András Törő followed the ceremony from St. Peter's Basilica, during which Pope Francis opened the holy gates of the basilica and started the 2025 Holy Year. The rector, who leads the institution of Hungarian priests studying and serving in Rome, emphasized to MTI on St. Peter's Square, preparing for Christmas Eve, that the Holy Year is "a special period in the life of the Catholic Church, and it wants to address all seekers, but it does not teach anything extraordinary new, which it would not be present in the life of the church anyway". The holy year
"he wants to draw our attention to the richness of our church's teaching, which can give us hope again"
he said.
He reminded that the church has held a regular Holy Year every 25 years since the 16th century, which every time expresses the message of new beginnings and hope. In the holy year, the current pope wants to give an answer to the challenges and difficulties of the age: Pope Francis now puts hope in the center: "this hope does not mean some optimism, but wants to strengthen our faith in Christ. It does not represent an encounter from the outside, but wants to initiate an internal transformation within us. The holy year wants to shape us from the inside. That is why the Pope calls for repentance, for even more conscious practice of love of neighbor, and for even more careful protection of the created world. It urges us to be able to move more and more out of our everyday life and our usual rhythm, to be able to move towards God and the world around us, and to be able to meet ourselves".
The holy year begins with the opening of the holy gate of St. Peter's Basilica. András Törő emphasized that the holy gate is not a magic gate, it does not want to perform a miracle, but wants to invite you to meet Christ.
The symbol of the gate refers to Christ in the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John.
The evangelist talks about the fact that whoever passes through this gate is saved: the holy gate is therefore "a symbol of the road to salvation". In response to the question, if a person who is not a believer passes through the holy gate, but one of the tourists coming to Rome in the next year, András Törő said, "if we pass through the holy gate without faith, it neither harms nor benefits".
He pointed out that the road leading to the holy gates of St. Peter's and the other three basilicas in Rome has "beautiful symbolism." "The way to get to the gate is structured: in order to get to any gate, the pilgrims have to make the way to Rome and the basilicas, they have to make a kind of effort, they have to put themselves there, if only by having to stand all the way through line leading to the gate. We need to be on this path in order to start the purification and encounter with the Christ who invited us". Pilgrims can pass through the holy gates of St. Peter's Basilica from Wednesday. The holy gates of the Basilica of St. John Lateran open on December 29, the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore on the first of January, and the Basilica of St. Paul outside the Roman city walls on the fifth of January.
Pope Francis opened the holy gates of St. Peter's Basilica, the holy year has begun
This is the first time that a Chinese Catholic followed the Pope through the gate at the opening of the holy gate. In the basilica, Pope Francis leads the festive mass in front of nearly seven thousand participants. Tens of thousands of people follow the ceremony on projectors in Szent Péter Square.
