Pope's Christmas address starting historic Jubilee year has message with a familiar call for peace

Pope Francis has officially begun the Catholic Church's 2025 Jubilee by striking a familiar chord in his frequent but essentially inescapable call for world peace – as conflict appears to be escalating more than showing signs of ending.

Francis in his Christmas Eve homily on Tuesday said this year's jubilee is to "bring hope to the interminable, dreary days of prisoners, to the cold and dismal lodgings of the poor and to all those places desecrated by war and violence.”

The major tenants of the Church's jubilee, a once-every-25-year tradition, include forgiveness and reconciliation with adversaries, as well as pilgrimages to Rome, where the holy doors will be opened at the basilicas of St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major and St. Paul Outside the Walls. 

An estimated 32 million people are expected to make a pilgrimage to the home of the Catholic Church in this jubilee year. 

In a globally telecast Christmas mass, the 88-year-old Francis also used his traditional “Urbi et Orbi” (Latin for “To the City and the World”) blessing to encourage the world to look past issues that separate them.

“I invite every individual and the people of all nations … to become pilgrims of hope,” the pontiff said, speaking in Italian from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica. “We must silence the sounds of armed conflict and overcome our divisions.”

In specific terms, Francis reiterated his calls for a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah, while calling for Hamas to free the Israeli hostages the organization has held since their surprise attack on Israel nearly 15 months ago.

In recent weeks, unrest the region appears only to have increased – with rebel forces toppling the government of neighboring Syria, which was led by dictator Bashar al-Assad. The overthrow was followed in recent days by Israeli forces entering Syria, sparking criticism that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is perhaps exploiting the internal chaos. 

The 88-year-old Pope in his address Tuesday also urged Russia and Ukraine to come to the negotiating table to hammer out terms for what he called a “just and lasting peace” in their nearly three-year-old war.

“We must tear down all walls of separation between us,” Francis told the crowd of tens of thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

Francis’ calls for peace and negotiation in Israel and Ukraine are not new, but they have taken on new weight as the conflicts intensify and amid extra attention with the start of the Vatican’s 2025 Jubilee year.

The traditions behind the Vatican's Jubilee date all the way back to Pope Boniface VIII 725 years ago, with roots dating back to the time of Moses.

For the first Vatican Jubilee in 1300, the pontiff declared that catholic pilgrims who visited Rome’s main basilica enough times would be forgiven for certain sins. 

Since then, the celebrations have generally been held every 25 or 50 years, and though the goals of the event have evolved – the 2025 Jubilee is dedicated to fostering “reconciliation, conversion, and spiritual renewal” – Jubilees have always drawn large numbers of faithful Christians to Rome.

This year, organizers spent an estimated $5 billion to clean up and modernize the Italian capital as it prepared to host at least 30 million visitors in 2025, around a third more than the all-time record number of visitors expected to be set when this year draws to a close.  

Francis formally kicked off the Jubilee with the opening of the “Holy Door,” a 12-foot-tall heavy bronze door into St. Peter’s Basilica which is only opened during Jubilee years (the last time it was opened was in 2000). 

On Wednesday, visitors to St. Peter’s entered through the massive doorway, which will remain open until the conclusion of the Jubilee in early 2026.

Francis is increasingly frail – his voice is weak, and he rose from his wheelchair for a brief moment to symbolically knock on the “Holy Door” before it was opened for him – but he has a demanding schedule organized for the coming year. 

In addition to dozens of Jubilee-related events and his regular participation in multilateral summits to lobby for the end to conflicts, Francis will have a busy pastoral travel schedule. Already planned are major trips to Turkey with other pastoral visits reportedly in the works.