What is the Holy Door in the Vatican, which Pope Francis became first to leave open?

Even in death, Pope Francis remained a trailblazer — becoming the only pontiff to open, but not close, the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica in what has become a fateful symbol of his papal legacy.

The Holy Door was opened on Dec. 24, 2024, to mark a Jubilee Year and the start of the 2025 Holy Year — with Francis seen at the ceremony humbly sitting in a wheelchair as he passed through the ornate bronze doors as they were opened to religious pilgrims from around the world.

Pope Francis, the first pontiff from the Americas, died Easter Monday at age 88, about a month after he was released from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where he had spent 38 days battling a bilateral lung infection.

Continue reading