Pope Leo XIV closes 2025 Holy Year with critique of consumerism and xenophobia
Source: AP
By NICOLE WINFIELD
Updated 6:47 AM CST, January 6, 2026
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VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday closed out the Vatican’s 2025 Holy Year by denouncing today’s consumerist and anti-foreigner sentiment, capping a Jubilee that saw some 33 million pilgrims flock to Rome and a historic transition from one American pontiff to another.
With cardinals and diplomats looking on, Leo kneeled down in prayer on the stone floor at the threshold of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica. He then stood up and pulled the two doors shut, symbolically concluding 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 later.
Only once before, in 1700, has a Holy Year been opened by one pope and closed by another.
Tuesday’s ceremony, at the start of Mass celebrating the feast of Epiphany, capped a dizzying year of special audiences, Masses and meetings that dominated Leo’s first months as pontiff and in many ways put his own agenda on hold.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/vatican-holy-year-jubilee-pope-b376fc41b1d04ee361042c3acbdd6182