Pilgrims cross the Holy Door of the Vatican as Christmas marks the start of the Holy Year 2025

VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pilgrims lined up early Wednesday to walk through the great holy door at the entrance to St. Peter’s Basilica as Christmas marked the start of 2025 celebration of the holy year are expected to bring some 32 million Catholic believers to Rome.

Crossing the Holy Door is a way for the faithful to obtain indulgences or forgiveness of sins during a jubilee, a once-in-a-quarter-century tradition that dates back to 1300. On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis knocked on the door and was the first to walk through it and inaugurate the 2025 anniversary, which he dedicated to hope.

Pilgrims submitted to security checks before entering the holy door, amid fresh security fears that followed a deadly Christmas market attack in Germany. Many stopped to touch the door as they passed and made the sign of the cross as they entered the basilica dedicated to St. Peter, the founder of the Roman Catholic Church.

At noon, Francis will deliver the “Urbi et Orbi” – “To the City and the World” address, which serves as a summary of the issues facing the world this year.

A Chrismukkah miracle as Hanukkah and Christmas coincide

Hanukkah, Judaism’s eight-day festival of lightsbegins this year on Christmas Day, which has only happened four times since 1900.

The calendar confluence has inspired some religious leaders to host interfaith gatherings, such as a Chicanukah celebration held last week by several Jewish organizations in Houston, Texas, bringing together members of the city’s Latino and Jewish communities for latkes, the traditional potato pancake eaten on Hanukkah, topped with guacamole and salsa.

While Hanukkah is meant to be an upbeat, festive holiday, the rabbis note that it takes place this year as wars rage in the Middle East and fears rise over widespread incidents of anti-Semitism. The holidays rarely overlap because the Jewish calendar is based on lunar cycles and is not synchronized with the Gregorian calendar, which sets Christmas on December 25. The last time Hanukkah began on Christmas Day was in 2005.

German celebrations dampened by market raids

German celebrations were overshadowed by a car attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg on Friday that left five people dead, including a 9-year-old boy, and 200 people injured. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier rewrote his recorded Christmas Day speech to address the attack, saying “there is sadness, pain, horror and incomprehension over what took place in Magdeburg.” He urged Germans to “stand together” and that “hatred and violence must not have the last word.”

A 50-year-old Saudi doctor who had been practicing medicine in Germany since 2006 was arrested on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and grievous bodily harm. The suspect’s X account describes him as a former Muslim and is filled with anti-Islamic themes. He criticized the authorities for failing to combat the “Islamification of Germany” and voiced support for the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

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Barry reported from Milan. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem and David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany contributed to this report.