Pope Francis opens Jubilee Year, calls for debt relief for developing nations, courage and bold action to better the world

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Pope Francis presides over the Christmas Eve mass at St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on December 24, 2024. Pope Francis marks Christmas Eve with a special ceremony launching Jubilee 2025, a year of Catholic celebrations set to draw more than 30 million pilgrims to Rome. — AFP pic

VATICAN CITY, Dec 25 — Pope Francis said the story of Jesus’ birth as a poor carpenter’s son should instil hope that all people can make an impact on the world, as the pontiff yesterday led the world’s Roman Catholics into Christmas.

Francis, celebrating the 12th Christmas of his pontificate, presided at a solemn Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica and opened the 2025 Catholic Holy Year, which the Vatican expects will bring some 32 million tourists to Rome next year.

In a sermon focused on the virtue of hope, which is also the theme of the Holy Year, the pontiff said hope “is a summons not to tarry, to be kept back by our old habits, or to wallow in mediocrity or laziness”.

“Hope calls us... to be upset with things that are wrong and to find the courage to change them,” he said.

A Catholic Holy Year, also known as a Jubilee, is considered a time of peace, forgiveness and pardon. They normally occur every 25 years. Pilgrims coming to Rome during the year can obtain special indulgences, or remission of their sins. This Jubilee will run through January 6, 2026.

A general view shows St Peter's Basilica during the Christmas Eve mass in the Vatican on December 24, 2024. Over the next 12 months, pilgrims will pass through the large and imposing bronze door, which is normally closed, by tradition benefiting from a ‘plenary indulgence’, a type of forgiveness for their sins.— AFP pic

At the beginning of yesterday’s ceremony, Francis oversaw the opening of a special bronze-panelled “Holy Door” at St. Peter’s, which is only open during Jubilee years. The Vatican expects up to 100,000 pilgrims to walk through the door each day next year.

At the papal Mass for an estimated 6,000 people in St. Peter’s Basilica and 25,000 more watching on screens in the square outside, the pope also repeated an earlier call for developed nations to use the Jubilee to reduce the debt burden faced by low-income countries.

“The Jubilee calls us to spiritual renewal and commits us to the transformation of our world,” said the pontiff. “A time of jubilee for the poorer countries burdened beneath unfair debts; a time of jubilee for all those who are in bondage to forms of slavery old and new.”

A call for direct debt cancellation made by the late Pope John Paul II during the Jubilee year in 2000 sparked a campaign that resulted in US$130 billion (RM583 billion) of debt cancellation between 2000 and 2015.

Francis, who turned 88 this month, has been suffering from what the Vatican has described as a cold. He appeared on good form yesterday evening, although his voice was a little raspy.

Today, the pope will deliver his Christmas Day “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message and blessing. — Reuters

Pope Francis is surrounded by children at the end of the Christmas Eve mass at The St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on December 24, 2024. — AFP pic