2025 marks the Catholic Church’s Jubilee celebration, which commenced on Christmas Eve 2024 when Pope Francis opened the Holy Door at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, running through to January 6th 2026, when the Holy Door is once again closed. This Jubilee’s theme is ‘Hope does not disappoint’.
The opening of the ‘Holy Door’ first began in the Middle Ages and to this day allows Catholic pilgrims from around the world to pass through the door to get a ‘plenary indulgence,’ or forgiveness for their sins. If you think that sounds similar to an Abruzzo story concerning Abruzzo’s only Pope you would be correct!
The First Holy Door – L’Aquila!
Abruzzo holds a lesser-known yet profound connection to the tradition of the Jubilee. Originally this Jewish celebration was formalised in the Torah in the Book of Leviticus. The ‘Year of Jubilee’ was described as a time of liberation, forgiveness, and renewal. In Judaism, the ‘Jubilee’ is every 50 years, when fields are left to fallow, to make crops stronger the following year; slaves were traditionally liberated to restore equality and reduce the distance between the rich and the poor. The beginning of the Jewish Jubilee was marked by the sound of the ram’s horn, in Hebrew jobel, from which the Christian word ‘Jubilee’ derives.
This concept found a new interpretation through the Abruzzese Pope Celestine V, a hermit-turned-pope who established the Church’s very first Holy Door in 1294. Celestine V, crowned in L’Aquila’s Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio, invited pilgrims to receive a plenary indulgence during the Perdonanza Celestiniana, or “Celestinian Forgiveness.” This unique Abruzzo tradition, recognised by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage, predates the grander, Roman Holy Door Jubilee.
Celestine V, portrait by Niccolò di Tommaso, Castel Nuovo
In 1295 there is mention of a second ‘Holy Door’ in Atri where Pope Celestine’s mother was born and which still opens on August 15th, when the Assumption of Mary is celebrated in an attempt to overwrite the Roman’s pagan Ferragosto celebration. Popes have allowed parishes and basilicas around the globe to open their own doors on special occasions; for the last Jubilee Abruzzo had 23 ‘Holy Doors,’ but Pope Francis has decided that only the ‘Holy Doors’ in the Roman Basilicas will be opened for the 2025 Jubilee.
Pope Celestine resigned in December 1294 and was imprisoned by his successor Pope Boniface VIII, who Dante placed in Hell in his Divine Comedy. Boniface VIII issued the first ‘Jubilee Bull’ in 1300. It has subsequently proven hugely profitable but like all ‘money plans’ has often been linked to scandals. The city of Rome has invested more than 4.8 billion euros in attracting visitors to the city for the 2025 Jubilee, whilst the church is hosting events that will attract a wide audience including the Jubilee of Teenagers, the Jubilee of Artists, the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents, and the Elderly to name but a few. There is even one for Catholic Influencers –see the full calendar.
Boniface VIII declaring the Jubilee Year, fresco by Giotto in the Basilica of St. Giovanni Lateran
Churches in Abruzzo Celebrating the Jubilee
Churches across Abruzzo will celebrate the Jubilee from the grandeur of L’Aquila’s Collemaggio to the quiet mountain hermitages, these sacred spaces invite reflection and connection where biblical principles, history, and breathtaking landscapes converge. You have a chance to walk in the footsteps of Pope Celestine who first interpreted forgiveness and liberation through a Holy Door and whose spiritual home was Abruzzo’s mountains.
Will Abruzzo churches be busy? Probably not though Jubilee events held throughout the 4 provinces will be well attended. Data provided by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) records just 19% of Italians identify themselves as practising Catholics, although the figure will be higher in Abruzzo and the South. In 2015 ISTAT recorded that 33.2% of southern Italians were practicing Catholics compared to the national average of 29.5%. Agenzia Fides produces statistics each year on how the Catholic Church is faring. This year’s report in October 2024 reported that 17.7% of the world’s population is Catholic. This percentage has remained unchanged since 2015, after reaching a brief peak in 2014 (17.8%). The number of baptisms has declined from 17,932,891 worldwide in 1998 to 13,327,037 baptisms in 2022. Whilst there was a notable increase in registered church members in Africa and the Americas, there was only a small increase in Asia and Oceania. Europe remains the diminishing continent for the Catholic Church, with a decrease in Catholics of – 474,000 last year. Many pilgrims will make it to Rome, but many won’t make the detour or have deep enough pockets to move away from Rome. Our list of Jubilee churches in Abruzzo normally hold commemoration events for the Jubilee and we recommend checking if you would like to participate locally.
Teramo Churches
- Sanctuary of San Gabriele – Isola Gran Sasso
- Madonna delle Grazie Cathedral Teramo
- Sanctuary of Madonna dello Splendore – Giulianova
- Santa Maria a Mare – Giulianova
- Santa Maria in Platea – Campli
- Santuario Scala Santa – Campli
- Madonna dei Lumi – Civitella del Tronto
- Madonna dell’Alno – Canzano
- Sanctuary of Santa Rita – Atri
- Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta – Atri (with Holy Door)
- Madonna del Sabato Santo – Corropoli
- Santa Maria in Herulis – Bellante
- Madonna della Tibia – Crognaleto
L’Aquila Churches
- Santa Maria di Collemaggio – L’Aquila (with Holy Door)
- Cristo Re – L’Aquila
- Basilica of Santa Maria delle Grazie – L’Aquila
- Basilica di San Bernardino
- Madonna del Suffragio – Avezzano
- Saint Bartolomeo – Avezzano
- Santissima Annunziata – Sulmona
- San Panfilo Cathedral – Sulmona
- Hermitage di Sant’Onofrio al Morrone – Sulmona
- Basilica dei Santi Cesidio e Rufino – Trasacco
- Basilica of Santa Maria delle Grazia – Pescina
- Sanctuary of Madonna dell’Oriente – Tagliacozzo
- Sanctuary of Santa Maria dei Bisognosi – Pereto
Pescara Churches
- Cathedral of San Cetteo – Pescara
- Basilica Santuario del Volto Santo – Manopello
- Hermitage of San Bartolomeo in Legio – Roccamorice
- Hermitage of Santo Spirito a Majella – Roccamorice
- Sanctuary of Beato Nunzio Sulprizio – Pescosansonesco
Chieti Churches
- San Domenico al Corso – Chieti
- San Giustino Cathedral – Chieti
- Saint Lucia – Lanciano
- Basilica Cattedrale della Madonna del Ponte – Lanciano
- Sanctuary of Miracolo Eucaristico – Lanciano
- San Giuseppe Cathedral -Vasto
- Sanctuary of Madonna dei Miracoli – Casalbordino
- Basilica of San Tommaso Apostolo – Ortona
Author: Sam Dunham
Sam is a freelance SEO content creator and IGCSE Geography and English teacher at Istituto Cristo Re in Rome. She also runs the Life In Abruzzo Cultural Association, sharing stories and insights about this captivating region.
Alongside raising a teenager, Sam hosts guests at her family’s traditional home, the Little House of the Firefly in Abruzzo, offering a warm welcome and insider tips on local culture, food, and hidden gems.
