Holy Doors
Planning the 2025 trip began last year, when I realized I could visit my son in Germany and go to Octoberfest at the same time. We booked Munich almost immediately, but it ended up being the second leg of the trip. Rome moved into first position.
The goal in Rome was very targeted: Walk through the four Holy Doors. The Pope only opens these doors during Jubilee years. Since these only fall every twenty five years, it is a rare opportunity. Millions of Catholics make a special pilgrimage to Rome to walk through them.
I had walked through them as a kid in 1975. My mom was a good catholic and signed us up for a pilgrimage with the base chaplain from Bamberg. Mamma was a firm believer in purgatory, a place deduced by medieval theologians.
Catholic theologians reasoned that an impure soul couldn’t enter heaven until it had been purified. Souls “burned” in purgatory until they were ready to ascend. Not all souls need the same amount of time in purgatory. Saints need no time all. They go straight to heaven. Neither do the damned. They go straight to hell.
What determines the time for the rest of us? Penance. At the end of a confession, the priest grants absolution for the confessed sins, and then assigns a penance or penalty. Depending upon the gravity or nature of the sin, the penalty can involve a short series of Hail Marys or making restitution.
During the Middle Ages, penance became excessive, and many Catholics believed they could never complete all of their penance before they died. Spending time in Purgatory solves this problem. The time spent suffering in purgatory made up for the incomplete penance.
This sacramental process is both scriptural and practical. In scripture, Jesus hands Peter the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven: “what ever you bind…” These keys evolved into the sacrament of absolution. The bishops decided there needed to be an earthly, or practical, penalty.
Over the centuries those penalties accumulated and finally merged with pilgrimages. Pilgrimages offered the faithful a way to walk in the presence of Jesus and the saints. Saint Helena, the mother of the Roman emperor Constantine, promoted pilgrimage sites not in Jerusalem but also around the Mediterranean world.
Once the Muslims conquered the “Holy Land”, sites in Rome took on increased significance. While Jesus never walked the streets of Rome, Peter and Paul did. Both suffered torture and execution at the hands of the Romans. Christians preserved their burial sites on opposite sides of Rome
Eventually, the Bishop of Rome emerged as the head of the Christian Church in Western Europe. This version of Christianity fully developed the sacrament of private, confession and absolution followed by penance. .
By the twelfth century Catholics had a full system of absolution, penance, pilgrimages and indulgences at their disposal. The Pope offered indulgences in exchange for service, pilgrimage or a donation. The indulgence provided relief from the debt owed by a penance. An indulgence thus reduced the time in purgatory.
Holy Doors provide a unique opportunity to receive an indulgence. The pope has disingnated specific doors in Rome and only opens them during a jubilee. A penitent can ask for an indulgence for themselves or a dead loved one or even an unknown soul. The pilgrimage through a Holy Door reduced the time in purgatory.
Modern technology has made this pilgrimage easier. We only spent two days completing a journey that took months in the past. As an added bonus we go to pray at the tomb of Pope Francis as well as see the newly cleaned Baldacchino in Saint Peter’s.
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