Pope Leo XIV leads his inaugural Christmas at the Vatican, restoring Christmas Day Mass in St. Peter’s after 30 years and closing the 2025 Jubilee Holy Doors.
Newsroom (23/12/2025 Gaudium Press ) In his first Christmas as pontiff, Pope Leo XIV is set to revive longstanding Vatican traditions while presiding over a festive season marked by the conclusion of the Ordinary Jubilee 2025.
The celebrations will commence on the evening of December 24, with the Pope leading Christmas Eve Mass at 10:00 p.m. in St. Peter’s Basilica. This timing marks a shift from recent years, when the liturgy was held at 7:30 p.m. due to pandemic-era adjustments. Prior to 2009, the Mass traditionally occurred at midnight until Pope Benedict XVI advanced it.
The most notable restoration will occur on December 25, when Leo XIV celebrates Christmas Day Mass at 10:00 a.m. in St. Peter’s Basilica — a practice unobserved since the pontificate of St. John Paul II in 1994. Following the Mass, at noon, the Pope will deliver the customary Urbi et Orbi blessing from the central loggia of the basilica.
On December 31, Leo XIV will preside over First Vespers and the Te Deum at 5:00 p.m. in St. Peter’s, offering thanksgiving for the concluding year. The new year will begin liturgically on January 1, 2026 — the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God and the 59th World Day of Peace — with Holy Mass at 10:00 a.m.
The Pope’s message for the World Day of Peace, titled Peace be with you all: towards an unarmed and disarming peace, advocates a vision that rejects fear, threats, and weapons in favor of a peace rooted in trust, empathy, and hope, manifested in a lifestyle free from all violence.
A pivotal moment arrives on January 6, the Solemnity of the Epiphany, when Leo XIV will close the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica at 9:30 a.m. and celebrate the closing Mass of the 2025 Jubilee. The Holy Doors of Rome’s other papal basilicas — St. Mary Major, St. John Lateran, and St. Paul Outside the Walls — will close in the preceding days.
This will mark only the second instance in Church history that a Jubilee Year concludes under a different pope from the one who inaugurated it, the previous occurrence being in 1700 when Innocent XII opened the holy year and Clement XI closed it.
The Christmas liturgical cycle will end on January 11, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, with Pope Leo XIV presiding over Mass and baptizing children of Vatican employees in the Sistine Chapel at 9:30 a.m., continuing a tradition initiated by St. John Paul II.
The holiday spirit has already enveloped the Vatican following the December 15 lighting of the Christmas tree and unveiling of the Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square, ceremonies led by Raffaella Petrini, President of the Governorate of Vatican City State. That day, the Pope also received donors of the tree and additional Nativity displays in the Paul VI Audience Hall.
Particular attention has focused on the Nativity in the Paul VI Hall, titled Nacimiento Gaudium and originating from Costa Rica. Until December 25, it depicts the pregnant Virgin Mary as an emblem of anticipation and hope. The figures are surrounded by 28,000 white ribbons bearing names or pseudonyms of children saved from abortion, while 420 yellow ribbons in the cradle carry messages from hospitalized children.
Following Christmas, Pope Leo XIV plans a brief period of rest at Castel Gandolfo beginning December 26, while continuing to lead major liturgical celebrations and encounters with the faithful. On January 7 and 8, he will convene the world’s cardinals in Rome for his first ordinary consistory since his election.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from ACI Prensa
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