Grow in hope, share it with others, declares the cardinal as he opens the Holy Door

ROME (CNS) — During the Holy Year 2025, Catholics are called not only to grow in the virtue of hope, but also to share it with others, said U.S. Cardinal James M. Harvey, archpriest from the Basilica of Saint Paul outside Prince Edward in Rome. Walls.

Pope Francis’ call to the entire Church during the Jubilee Year is “both urgent and challenging. It is a call not to be satisfied with having hope, but to radiate hope, to be sowers of hope,” declared the cardinal during the mass of January 5 after opening the holy door of the basilica.

The gilded bronze door, installed for the Holy Year 2000, was the last of the holy doors of Rome’s papal basilicas to be opened to pilgrims.

With the theme “Pilgrims of Hope,” Pope Francis inaugurated the Holy Year on December 24 by opening the holy door of St. Peter’s Basilica, and he opened a holy door on December 26 at Rebibbia prison in Rome. The archpriest of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran opened the holy door there on December 29, and the coadjutor archpriest of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major opened the holy door of the Marian basilica on January 1.

In his homily at Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Cardinal Harvey said that hope “is certainly the greatest gift that the Church can give to humanity, especially at this moment in history.”

The opening of the Holy Door, especially during the Christmas season, he said, “marks the saving passage opened by Christ with his incarnation, death and resurrection, calling all members of the Church to be reconciled with God and with their neighbor.”

Cardinal Harvey told the congregation of nearly 3,000 people that the words “Spes Unica,” meaning “our only hope,” are written at the base of the cross atop the basilica.

During the Jubilee Year, he said, Christians in Rome and around the world are called to cling to the cross and go on pilgrimage, walking together, supporting one another and sharing with all the hope of eternal salvation accomplished in Christ.

Citing the Letter to the Romans of the Apostle Paul, whose tomb lies beneath the basilica’s high altar, Cardinal Harvey said his prayer for the Holy Year is: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe, so that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Copyright © 2025 Catholic News Service/American Conference of Catholic Bishops

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