Rome expects record pilgrims: Holy Year begins in the eternal city!

Rome expects record pilgrims: Holy Year begins in the eternal city!

On December 24, 2024, Rome will not only celebrate Christmas Eve, but also experience a very special event: Pope Francis opens the Holy Year of the Catholic Church. This jubilee year, also called "Giubileo", is proclaimed every 25 years and moves millions of pilgrims and visitors to the eternal city. The estimates assume that more than 30 million people are expected to walk through the holy gate in St. Peter's Basilica and thus to gain the forgiveness of their sins, as the Catholic understanding prescribes. This reported the Small newspaper.

The ceremony of the holy gate

The Pope will step onto the gate in Liturgical robes on Christmas Day and open them through a venerable ceremony. This is the beginning of the Holy Year, which will continue until January 6, 2026. Preparations have been running for months: craftsmen from the Vatican cathedral building hut have opened the bricked -up gate and prepared everything for the big event. Many services are planned, in which the Pope will also express itself against war and violence, reports that N-TV.

The Holy Year is an immense challenge in particular for the city of Rome, because the infrastructure must cope with the expected rush. In order to prepare the city, streets and public places were renovated to offer pilgrims a positive experience. The holy gate of pars' cathedral will also not remain the only one; Other important churches such as the Lateran basilica and Sankt Paul in front of the walls will open their doors. In a remarkable way, Francis will also open a “Porta Santa” in a Roman prison, which underlines the message of forgiveness and reintegration.