We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
ON CHRISTMAS EVE, Pope Francis officially launched the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year when he opened the “Holy Doors” of St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.
These doors only open during Jubilee Years, in a tradition that goes back to Pope Alexander VI in 1500.
Jubilee Years happen every 25 years within the Church, and extraordinary jubilees can also be called outside this timeframe, such as the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2016.
The theme of this Jubilee Year is ‘Pilgrims of Hope’, with the Church aiming to highlight the impacts of war, the ongoing effects of Covid-19 pandemic, and the climate crisis.
To mark the beginning of the current Jubilee Year, Pope Francis will open five “Holy Doors”, the first of which was opened on Christmas Eve and the last which will be opened on Sunday at the Papal Basilica of Saint Paul.
“In Catholic tradition, the Holy Door represents the passage to salvation — the path to a new and eternal life, which was opened to humanity by Jesus,” explained Pope Francis in a document proclaiming the Jubilee Year of 2025.
But this symbolic gesture, dating back 1500 and which is meant to “evoke the passage from sin to grace”, has been described by some online as “the opening of five spiritual portals that have never been opened before”.
Others online say “this ritual has never been done before”.
No, and the claim seems to have started cropping up after an article by the New York Post.
In a clickbait headline on an article published on 9 December, the New York Post said: “Pope Francis to open 5 sacred portals on Christmas Eve — for a ritual that’s never been done before”.
The “sacred portals” referred to in the headline might be a misunderstanding of “Porta Sancta”, which is Latin for “Holy Door” and the term used for the Holy Door in St Peter’s Basilica.
However, one of the dictionary definitions of “portal” includes “grand and imposing doorway”, which is perhaps what the New York Post was aiming to convey.
Nevertheless, many online seemed to read the term “portal” as meaning a doorway to another dimension.
And the “never been done before” element of the headline refers to the fact that for the first time, the Holy Door in the Rebibbia Prison of Rome was opened.
Rebibbia Prison housed Mehmet Ali Ağca during his time in custody in Italy following an assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II on 13 May, 1981.
Pope John Paul II visited Ağca in his cell in Rebibbia and forgave him for the shooting.
Pope Francis requested the opening of this door and said that he hopes this act can be a “sign inviting prisoners to look to the future with hope and a renewed sense of confidence”.
Another incident which added fuel to the conspiracy was when Barstool Sports posted about the Holy Doors ceremony to its account on X, where it has over 6.1 million followers.
Barstool Sports describes itself as a “sports and pop culture blog covering the latest news and viral highlights of each and everyday”.
Its post on X on 12 December read: “Pope Francis Will Be Opening 5 Sacred Portals For A Special Catholic Ritual On Christmas Eve.”
Pope Francis Will Be Opening 5 Sacred Portals For A Special Catholic Ritual On Christmas Eve https://t.co/RWPJWGdjl1 pic.twitter.com/L2xEqNkPUu
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) December 12, 2024
A link accompaning the Barstool Sports’ post on X featured an article by ‘Charisma News’ which claimed that “another layer to this mystery is the broader conversation about portals—spiritual gateways between realms”.
Charisma News describes itself as the “most trusted source for credible news and insight from a charismatic perspective”.
The Charisma News article adds: “Could the Vatican’s Holy Doors be more than symbolic? Are they inadvertently engaging in a spiritual practice they may not fully understand?”
The website also features a doctored image of an alien-esque door outside the Vatican.
In reality, the Holy Doors are symbolic and hark back to several Biblical scriptures – for example, in John’s Gospel Jesus says “I am the door” and in Luke’s Gospel Jesus says, “Knock, and the door will be opened for you”.
On the same day that Barstool Sports directed its followers on X to ‘Charisma News’, a TikTok user called ‘gracexdigital’ went somewhat viral with a post asking if anyone was “concerned about what the Vatican and the Pope are doing on Christmas Eve”.
“Sir, why are you trying to open five spiritual portals that have never been opened before? Maybe there’s a reason no one has tried to open them before,” she says in her TikTok post.
As noted above, this is a symbolic act that goes back to 1500 and the “never before opened” aspect relates to the opening of a Holy Door at Rebibbia Prison.
Meanwhile, many people online have asked how a cameraman was on the other side of the door in St Peter’s Basilica when Pope Francis symbolically opened it.
“How did the camera get on the ceiling inside if nobody has been in there for like….forever?,” asked one person on X.
They had wrongly believed that the Holy Door opened into a never before entered space, and queried how a camera was in this untouched room.
The Holy Door in question is in the atrium of St Peter’s Basilica and is beside the main entrance.
And like the main entrance, the Holy Door simply opens into the nave of St Peter’s Basilica, with the Holy Door being located close to the Pietà by Michelangelo.
TikTok user gracexdigital also claimed that the Vatican “livestreamed the Tomb of Lucifer, that’s under the Vatican, for people to see”.
It’s unclear where the origin for this claim lies, but could stem from a book titled ‘Guide to the Vatican Necropolis’ by Michele Basso.
This book is used as a reference on the St Peter’s Basilica website, which notes that the entrance to the tomb marked ‘Lucifer’ has been “reduced because of a fault in the architrave”.
However, the tomb was constructed in the pre-Constantine era and before the term Lucifer developed its association with the Devil.
The tomb could be that of St Lucifer of Cagliari, who died in 370 and was a prominent defender of the doctrine of the Trinity.
Meanwhile, the Holy Doors weren’t the only aspect of the Jubilee Year to attract conspiracy theories.
To mark the Jubilee Year, the Vatican adopted an official mascot called Luce.
She is an anime-style character and her name means “light” in both Italian and Latin.
However, some falsely claimed the name was an allusion to Lucifer.
The Jubilee Year will come to an end on 6 January, 2026 with the closing of the Holy Door at St Peter’s Basilica.
One of the standout events planned for the Jubilee Year is the canonisation of teenager Carlos Acutis, who will become the first millennial saint in April.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say