The Vatican seals the Holy Doors of the four Papal Basilicas during private rites, marking the spiritual close of the Jubilee cycle.
Newsroom (14/01/2026 Gaudium Press ) In Rome, the Holy See Press Office announced this week that the sacred rites to seal the Holy Doors of the four Papal Basilicas are being carried out in private ceremonies. The closures represent one of the most profound liturgical actions in the life of the Catholic Church, symbolizing the completion of the Jubilee cycle — a time of grace, renewal, and forgiveness.
According to the Vatican’s statement, the Holy Door of the Basilica of St. Mary Major was the first to be sealed, on Tuesday evening at 7:00 PM local time. This marked the beginning of a carefully ordered series of ceremonies that unfold over several days across Rome’s most significant basilicas.
The ritual continues on Wednesday with the sealing of the Holy Door at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran — known as the Cathedral of Rome and the official ecclesiastical seat of the Pope as Bishop of Rome. On Thursday, 15 January, the ceremony moves westward across the city to the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, one of the city’s most ancient Christian sites and a place long associated with the Apostle Paul.
The sequence culminates on Friday evening, 16 January, with the final sealing at St. Peter’s Basilica, the most renowned and spiritually significant of the four basilicas. Set beneath Michelangelo’s great dome and near the tomb of St. Peter, this last rite completes the formal act that will remain unchanged until the next Holy Year, when the Doors will be reopened to pilgrims seeking indulgence and spiritual renewal.
In each ceremony, in keeping with tradition, a bronze box is placed within the masonry of the sealed doorway. The Holy See notes that this box contains several ritual and historical objects of deep significance: the official document recording the closure of the Holy Door, the key used to lock it, and a collection of papal medals minted between the last closure in 2016 and the present date. When possible, a commemorative medal unique to the Basilica is also included, offering a physical reminder of continuity between Jubilees.
The sealing of a Holy Door is never merely an architectural act. It stands as a spiritual threshold — one that opens and closes with the rhythm of the Church’s centuries-old Jubilee tradition. During a Jubilee Year, these Doors are opened as “portals of grace,” inviting the faithful to seek reconciliation and renewal of faith through their passage. When sealed, they symbolize the time of waiting and preparation for the next moment of grace that the Church will celebrate universally.
For now, with each bronze key turned and each wall restored, Rome’s great Basilicas enter a period of quiet anticipation. The ceremonies bridge the sacred and the historical — preserving a tangible link to the past while directing the gaze of millions of believers toward the promise of the next Jubilee.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Vatican News
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