Closeness is the legacy of the Jubilee, says Cardinal at closing of St. John Lateran Holy Door

Today, by closing the Holy Door, we raise to the Father a hymn of thanksgiving for all the signs of His love for us, while we keep in our hearts the awareness and hope that His embrace of mercy and peace remains open to all peoples,” said Cardinal Baldassare Reina, Vicar General of Rome and Archpriest of the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

The Cardinal’s prayer echoed in the atrium of the Basilica on the morning of Saturday, December 27, as he presided over the solemn rite of the closing of its Holy Door.

The cardinal ascended the steps in silence, then knelt on the threshold in prayer, before rising and closing the large door, while he bowed his head in a sign of reverence. Many faithful then approach the threshold and placed their hands upon it in a gesture of prayer and recollection.

The same door had been opened on December 29, 2024, feast of the Holy Family. It’s closure instead occurred on the feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist, “the disciple who became Jesus’ closest friend,” the cardinal emphasized during the Mass that followed the rite of the closing of the Holy Door.

John had “walked with Jesus, listened to His voice, even the wordless one of His heart, resting his ear on His chest,” the Vicar of Rome continued.

Following John’s example, the faithful present—including the Mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri; and the Prefect, Lamberto Giannini—are invited to be “ministers of God’s mercy,” allowing the Lord “to find fulfillment in a city in which many have lost hope,” the Cardinal said.

Cardinal Reina warned that one cannot profess the Christian faith without being concerned for those who, “because of the burdens they carry, the pain they endure, the injustices they suffer,” are unable to perceive anything other than absence.

He described this absence in all its facets: the lack “of solidarity in the gap between periphery and centre; of attention to economic and existential miseries; of fraternity, whereby we resign ourselves, even in the presbytery, to remaining alone or leaving one another alone. The absence in which families fall apart, bonds grow fragile, generations clash, and addictions become chains”; the lack of “justice that does not live up to the highest vocation of politics which is to remove obstacles so that everyone may have equal opportunity to fulfil themselves, give shape to their dreams, substance to their dignity, through work and fair wages, having a home, and being defended and cared for in their fragility.”