Pope Leo XIV Closes 2025 Vatican Holy Year

Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday formally closed the Vatican’s 2025 Holy Year, using the occasion to criticise modern consumerism and rising hostility towards foreigners.

The ceremony marked the conclusion of a Jubilee that drew an estimated 33 million pilgrims to Rome and coincided with the transition to the first American pope.

At the start of Mass for the feast of the Epiphany, Leo knelt in prayer at the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica before closing it, symbolically ending the Jubilee.

The Holy Year had been opened in December 2024 by Pope Francis and continued through his funeral and the conclave, making it only the second time in history that one pope opened a Jubilee and another closed it.

In his homily, Leo reflected on the Jubilee’s call to welcome the stranger and resist the influence of power and profit.

He questioned whether the year had helped Christians move away from an economic model that turns people into consumers and urged greater recognition of shared humanity, particularly towards migrants and outsiders.

Addressing the faithful from the basilica loggia, Leo also echoed traditional Jubilee appeals for peace and a fairer distribution of resources. He said inequality should give way to fairness and called for peace to replace the pursuit of war.

#MaltaDaily