Francis, who recently celebrated his 88th birthday, commenced Christmas Mass festivities at the opening of the sealed “Holy Door” of St. Peter’s Basilica at the papal enclave in Italy celebrating jubilees since the year 1300 known as a time of special pilgrimage, conversion and renewed faith.

The pope chose “Pilgrims of Hope” as this Holy Year’s theme to end Jan. 6, 2026.

“There is much desolation in the world right now,” he said Tuesday as he referenced persistent war in Russia and alleged genocidal atrocities by Israel in Gaza. “Think of the wars, of the children gunned down, of the bombs falling on schools and hospitals,” he added.

Some of the highlighted jubilee events will be the canonization of Carlos Acutis, a tech expert who was dubbed the first digital-age saint of a millennial age, later in April.

He says hope is not indifferent but requires courage. It means being unafraid to “speak out against evil and the injustices perpetrated at the expense of the poor.”

The church celebrates holy years every 25 years and the practice of opening and closing the Holy Door at the start and end of Holy Years began some 500 years ago.

Some 3,000 pilgrims bought and inscribed their names on bricks that were used to close up the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica at the end of 1984’s Holy Year of Redemption April 22.

The opening of the bronze door is the symbolic beginning of 13 months of religious activities expected to draw tens of millions to Rome. Its last open was by then-Pope John Paul II in 2000. Francis, meanwhile, first opened the Holy Door in 2015 for his 2016 Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.

This year the pontiff presided over an Easter vigil on a Saturday in March at St. Peter’s Basilica after then-87-year-old Francis cancelled a Good Friday appearance at the last minute due to persistent health reasons.

On Tuesday, roughly 25,000 visitors sat in St. Peter’s Square eyeing the pope’s liturgy on video screens as 6,000 others were inside with Francis, according to the Vatican press office.

This holy year he called on followers to “spiritual renewal and commits us to the transformation of our world, so that this year may truly become a time of jubilation: a jubilee for our mother Earth, disfigured by profiteering; 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.”

For the first time in church history, Pope St. John Paul II ruled during the 1983 holy year that Catholics around the world can receive the same forgiveness of sins simply by attending similar services or praying with a visiting priest in their own home parishes.

Dozens of priests were on hand to distribute Communion during the mass to outside participants.

Among the first pilgrims to greet the holy father at the storied door were 10 children who placed flowers at a figurine of Jesus resting in front of the main alter of the basilica.

“Hope calls us to become pilgrims in search of truth, dreamers who never tire, women and men open to being challenged by God’s dream, which is the dream of a new world where peace and justice reign,” the leader of the Catholic Church stated Tuesday.