Torrential rains, looming deadline, don't deter last-minute pilgrims

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- With rain-slicked coats and rain-soaked feet, last-minute visitors did not let Rome's infamous winter deluges and damp stop them from their goal: to pray and pass through to the Holy Door in St. Peter's Basilica.

With just a few hours to go before it closed to the public late Jan. 5, hundreds of pilgrims streamed nonstop into the basilica, pushing the final tally to well past 33 million people who visited the Vatican during the Holy Year that Pope Francis opened on Christmas Eve in 2024.

"Avanti! No stop! Vámonos!" one basilica employee manning the Holy Door told the stream of people. 

It was clear by "looking at their eyes" who was coming to the door out of pious devotion, and who experienced it as just one more stop on a busy day, one guard told Catholic News Service.

In fact, people often looked awestruck, jubilant or a bit dazed by the brilliant light bouncing off the white and gold interior of the church after weaving through the darkened square. The majority of visitors held their cell phones high, seeing the scene through the screen or taking selfies and posing as a family or a couple at the door.

Those visitors who stopped to rest their heads against the depiction of the crucified Christ on the door or reverently touch the other panels were allowed to linger longer. And men and boys who forgot to pull off their hats or hoodies were given a stern look and a curt gesture by guards to remove their headwear.

The only ones who looked tired by early evening were the children -- many slung over a loved one's shoulder or snuggled in a baby sling. 

Touching one of the bronze panels of the Holy Door became a moment of catechesis for some parents as they explained to their children how to make the sign of the cross or kiss one of the bas-relief depictions of Jesus.

One father bent down to his small son, explaining how the door "will only be open again when you're 28 years old!" calculating the next Holy Year to be in 2050. However, one is expected to be declared for the 2000th anniversary of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in 2033.

The last official pilgrim group through the door was led by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, which organized the different Jubilees during the Holy Year. 

He held the Jubilee cross as he walked through the Holy Door, leading members of the dicastery and scores of Jubilee volunteers who had endured the extremes of Rome's weather all year, welcoming pilgrims at all four major basilicas and manning the special corridor from Castel Sant'Angelo to St. Peter's Basilica. The volunteers wore their bright lime-green jackets and bibs, and some proudly held their country's flag in their hands.

No more pilgrim groups were allowed to leave from Piazza Pia after 5:30 p.m., and the last wave of individuals was let in after 6 p.m. By 6:40 p.m., the square was barricaded, and latecomers negotiated or pleaded with police to let them in.

"I came from Finland," said Anton, 22, an Orthodox Christian from Helsinki, who lingered at one barricade, musing about the "bad timing."

He and his friend told CNS that they had come to Rome to enjoy the food and sights, but Anton had wanted to go through the Holy Door as part of an act of spiritual purification and strengthen his desire to do something "for the greater good of God."

"Perhaps we could break in," the young men joked when considering a contingency plan. 

One young mother parked a stroller along the perimeter of the square with her two small children and her father and mother. They had taken a two-hour train and subway ride from a small town just 11 miles away, and missed their chance to get through the door, too.

"We wanted to take our picture," she said, adding that they had managed to pass through the Holy Doors of St. Paul Outside the Walls and St. John Lateran, which had both closed in late December.

Andrea, a man in his 60s, said he got to the square just when it closed. Traveling directly from Florence, he said he couldn't come earlier "because of work."

He told CNS he had been looking forward to the spiritual significance of passing through the Holy Door and the experience of "a kind of purification."

"But I did make it through in 2000," he said, recalling the very long lines to get to the door. "Let's just hope (the graces from that year) will last me another 25 years."