Jubilee: The volunteers’ final pilgrimage through the Holy Door

Reflections of St Peter’s Basilica appear in the puddles along Via della Conciliazione, the road leading from the Tiber to the Basilica, which has borne witness to the year-long Jubilee and its final days of rain. The volunteers - identifiable by their green jackets - carry with them the experiences, concerns and expectations of the pilgrims who crossed the Holy Door of the Vatican Basilica during the Holy Year. More than 33 million people took part, supported by the steady work of 5,000 volunteers from a wide range of backgrounds. On the evening of the 5th of January, they were invited to take part in the final pilgrimage, together with members of the Dicastery for Evangelisation, including the Pro-Prefect, Archbishop Rino Fisichella.Light rain accompanied the pilgrimage, led by the Archbishop, who carried the Jubilee’s wooden cross at the front of the procession. There was a sense of solidarity among the volunteers, alongside a feeling of conclusion typical of an experience coming to an end, and a shared awareness of having carried out a service “in a climate of safety and fraternity”, as Archbishop Fisichella stated at the Holy Year’s closing press conference earlier that day.