Pope Francis is launching a one-year anniversary that will test his endurance and Rome’s patience

VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Francis set the stage Holy year 2025 on Tuesdayinauguration of a celebration by the Catholic Church expected to draw some 32 million pilgrims to Rome in a test of the pope’s stamina and the Eternal City’s ability to welcome them.

From his wheelchair, Francis knocked a few times and the great holy door of St. Peter’s opened. He was wheeled across the threshold as the bells tolled across Rome and the choir inside the basilica began Christmas Eve mass.

In his homily, Francis said the holy year is an opportunity to relieve the debt of poor countries and commit to protecting the planet. The aim of the anniversary, he said, is “to bring hope to the endless, sad days of the prisoners, to the cold and gloomy dwellings of the poor and to all the places desecrated by war and violence.”

The ceremony inaugurated the tradition once every 25 years with a jubilee in which the Catholic faithful make a pilgrimage to Rome.

Francis has dedicated the 2025 anniversary to the theme of hope, and he will emphasize that message when he opens a holy door in Rome’s Rebibbia prison on Thursday in an attempt to give inmates hope for a better future. Francis has long incorporated the prison ministry into his priestly vocation and has made several visits to Rebibbia and other prisons during his travels.

Security around the Vatican was at its highest level after Christmas market attack last week in Germanyinforms the Ministry of the Interior.

Italian authorities deployed extra police patrols and camera surveillance around Rome, while pilgrims faced metal detectors and other security checks to gain access to St Peter’s Square via a reinforced police barricade passage.

Francis, who turned 88 last week, entered Christmas week and the jubilee launch with a cold that forced him to deliver his weekly Sunday blessing indoors. But he appeared in fine form on Tuesday night. His health and stamina, already compromised because of his tendency to get bronchitisis a concern given the rigorous calendar of events during the holy year.

One of the highlights will be the canonization of the teenager internet addict Carlo Acutisconsidered the first millennial and digital era saint, during the anniversary dedicated to teenagers in April.

This week, Francis also delivers his annual “Urbi et Orbi” (To the City and the World) speech on Christmas Day from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica. In addition to the excursion on Rebibbia, he will celebrate New Year’s Vespers and a New Year’s mass.

The city of Rome entered the Jubilee with some trepidation. It has undergone two years of traffic-clogging public works upgrades to transportation, hospital emergency rooms and other vital services, testing residents’ patience.

But only about a third of the 323 projects have been completed, and the city is already groaning under the weight of overtourism. Visitors have returned to Italy in droves after COVID-19, and the explosion of short-term vacation rentals has exacerbated a housing crisis.

Some of Rome’s prized monuments have recently reopened, including the Trevi Fountain. And the most important anniversary project was completed just in time: a pedestrian piazza connecting Castel St. Angelo with Via della Conciliazione, the main boulevard leading to St. Peter’s Square, was unveiled on Monday.

Vatican officials insist Rome has a tradition of welcoming pilgrims and point to how past jubilees have left their mark on the Eternal City’s urban and spiritual landscape. The Sistine Chapel was commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV for the Jubilee in 1475, and the Great Vatican Garage was built for the 2000 Jubilee under St. John Paul II.

Pope Boniface VII named the first Holy Year in 1300, and in recent times they are generally celebrated every 25 to 50 years. Pilgrims who attend can get “indulgences” — the absolution-related equivalent, roughly speaking, of a “get out of purgatory free” card.

Francis declared a special jubilee in 2015-2016 dedicated to mercy and the next one is scheduled for 2033 to celebrate the anniversary of Christ’s crucifixion.

The last regular anniversary was in 2000, when John Paul II ushered in the church’s third millennium. The one before that, in 1975, was notable because Pope Paul VI was almost hit by falling plaster when he opened the Holy Door. The door was still behind a false wall and Paul had used a ceremonial hammer to knock on it three times to open it. The false wall has now been removed in good time.

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