Important Takeaways:

• Pope Francis is preparing to unbrick and open five ‘sacred portals’ symbolizing the doorway to salvation.
• The doors are only opened once every 25 years, so may well be a little rusty.
• This year, for the first time, one of the doors will be opened in a prison, as a ‘sign inviting prisoners to look to the future with hope’, the Pope said in his bull of indiction announcing this year’s ceremony.
• The tradition dates back to 1300, and the door openings themselves follow a ritual first carried out in 1423.
• They mark ‘Jubilee’ years, a concept dating back to the Old Testament when sinners could see their sins forgiven.
• The doors in the basilicas have been bricked up from the inside. The walls will be taken down before the Pope walks through them to symbolize the beginning of the Holy Year.
• They will remain open all year for pilgrims to pass through until the Jubilee finishes on January 6, 2026.
• The pope will then be the last person to walk back through before closing them, and they will be sealed up once again.
• In Rebibbia Prison, the process will be different as it is the main door of the prison which will be used as a symbol for all prisons in the world.
• They were last opened in 2016, during an ‘extraordinary’ extra Jubilee called the Year of Mercy, having previously stayed closed since the turn of the Millennium.
• And they won’t be opened again until we go into 2050.

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