Pope Leo XIV closes 2025 Holy Year with critique of consumerism and xenophobia

Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday January 6 closed out the Vaticans 2025 Holy Year by denouncing todays consumerist and antiforeigner sentiment capping a Jubilee that saw some 33 million pilgrims flock to Rome and a historic transition from one American pontiff to anotherWith cardinals and diplomats looking on Leo kneeled down in prayer on the stone floor at the threshold of the Holy Door of St Peters Basilica He then stood up and pulled the two doors shut symbolically completing the rarest of Jubilees one that was opened by a feeble Pope Francis in December 2024 continued during his funeral and the conclave and then was closed by Francis successor a year laterOnly once before in 1700 has a Holy Year been opened by one pope and closed by another Tuesdays ceremony at the start of Mass celebrating the feast of Epiphany capped a dizzying year of special audiences Masses and meetings that dominated Leos first months as pontiff and in many ways put his own agenda on holdAs if to signal his pontificate now can begin in earnest Leo has summoned the worlds cardinals to the Vatican for two days of meetings starting Wednesday to discuss governing the 14billion strong Catholic Church On the agenda is the issue of the liturgy suggesting Leo is diving headfirst into the divisions within the church over the celebration of the old Latin MassA homily that denounces distorted economyIn his homily Tuesday Leo said the Jubilee year had invited all Christians to reflect on the Biblical teachings to welcome the stranger and resist the flattery and seduction of those in powerAround us a distorted economy tries to profit from everything he said Let us ask ourselves has the Jubilee taught us to flee from this type of efficiency that reduces everything to a product and human beings to consumers After this year will we be better able to recognize a pilgrim in the visitor a seeker in the stranger a neighbour in the foreigner and fellow travellers in those who are differentrdquoVatican claims success with 33 million pilgrimsFor the Vatican a Holy Year is a centuriesold tradition of the faithful making pilgrimages to Rome every 25 years to visit the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul and receive indulgences for the forgiveness of their sins if they pass through the Holy DoorFor Rome its a chance to take advantage of public funds in this case some 4 billion euros 43 billion to carry out longdelayed projects to lift the city out of years of neglect and bring it up to modern European standardsThe Vatican on Monday claimed 33475369 pilgrims had participated in the Jubilee though organizer Archbishop Rino Fisichella acknowledged the number was only a rough estimate and could include double countingAt a press conference neither he nor Italian officials provided a breakdown between Holy Year pilgrims and Romes overall tourist figures for the same periodA history of JubileesRomes relationship with Jubilees dates to 1300 when Pope Boniface VIII inaugurated the first Holy Year in what historians say marked the definitive designation of Rome as the center of Christianity Even then the number of pilgrims was so significant that Dante referred to them in his ldquoInfernordquoMassive public works projects have long accompanied Holy Years including the creation of the Sistine Chapel commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV for the Jubilee of 1475 and the big Vatican garage for the 2000 Jubilee under St John Paul IISome works have been controversial such as the construction of Via della Conciliazione the broad boulevard leading to St Peters Square An entire neighborhood was razed to make it for the 1950 JubileeThe main public works project for the 2025 Jubilee was an extension of that boulevard A pedestrian piazza along the Tiber linking Via della Conciliazione to the nearby Castel St Angelo with the major road that had separated them diverted to an underground tunnelLeo has already announced that the next Jubilee will be in 2033 to commemorate what Christians believe was the AD 33 death and resurrection of Christ