Pope Leo, closing Catholic Holy Year, urges kindness to foreigners | Reuters
By: Joshua McElwee (Reuters)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Pope Leo closes Holy Door at St. Peter's to end church jubilee | REUTERS
By Joshua McElwee January 6, 2026
Pope Leo closed the Catholic Church's Holy Year on Tuesday by sealing shut the special "Holy Door" in St. Peter's Basilica and urging Christians worldwide to help those in need and treat foreigners with kindness.
Leo, who has made care for immigrants a central theme of his early papacy, said at a Vatican ceremony that the record 33.5 million pilgrims who visited Rome during the Holy Year should have learned not to treat humans as mere " products ".
"Around us, a distorted economy tries to profit from everything," said the pope. "After this year, will we be better able to recognize a pilgrim in the visitor, a seeker in the stranger, a neighbor in the foreigner?"
Holy years, or jubilees, typically occur every 25 years and are considered a time of peace, forgiveness and pardon. Pilgrims to Rome can enter special "Holy Doors" at four Rome basilicas, and can attend papal audiences throughout the year. . . . The next jubilee is not expected before 2033, when the Church may have a special one to mark 2,000 years since the death of Jesus. Vatican and Italian officials said on Monday that pilgrims to Rome for the 2025 …
visit seeded article for remaining content
Tags
Who is online
86 visitors
Leo, who has made care for immigrants a central theme of his early papacy, said at a Vatican ceremony that the record 33.5 million pilgrims who visited Rome during the Holy Year should have learned not to treat humans as mere " products ".