Holy Doors

Last year when Justin mentioned “he could get behind a trip to Sicily” and my mom and him said they wanted to see Pompeii, I had planned for us to return to New York from Naples as there are seasonal direct flights. But then I realized it was the Jubilee in Rome as declared by Pope Francis and there would be a special plenary dispensation. This means the four Papal Basilicas would have their Holy Doors open for one year and those who walk through will be wiped of their sins. Over 30 million people are expected to visit Rome this year as part of the Jubilee theme, “Pilgrims of Hope”. When I mentioned that it was the Jubilee and I asked my mom if she would like to participate, she said “that would be nice”.

So I added an extra night and took a day off the southern Italy portion as I didn’t want to be away from work too long. Since all of us have been to Rome and this was an add-on, our focus was just to celebrate the Jubilee. There are so many great things to see and do in Rome, but we weren’t willing or able to do the traditional items with the crowds and in our limited time.

After a quick breakfast and a cab across town, we linked up with Crown Tours which I found on Trip Advisor for a skip the line Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica tour. I figured this would be most efficient and convenient. There were twenty in all in the group and I think all American that were good about staying together, following our tour guide, and helping my mother with seats and up and down stairs. I have learned she’ll refuse my help, but not the kindness of strangers. Here we’re entering the museum:



The courtyard in front of the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica:





Our guide, Benedetta, had great energy and calmness in leading us through the packed museum which she jokingly called a meat grinder. We learned a lot about the details of the Sistine Chapel of which we could not take photos:





Here’s a recent sculpture that is the same size of the sphere on top of St. Peter’s dome:



Inside the museum:













A bust of Pope Leo XIII who the current Pope succeeds in name:



Tapestries:





A map of Sicily in the map gallery:



We then entered the Sistine Chapel which was so awesome and I learned so much from our guide. This was my third time and Justin and I both agree we don’t remember it in 1992. It was fun to see the faces of folks in our group who were seeing it for their first time as many had never been to Rome before.

We then transitioned headsets and made our way to St. Peter’s Basilica where we had an introductory loop and then could do our own thing. The tour lasted just about three hours and was great.









Inside the Basilica:



The statue of St. Peter where my mom remembered she rubbed the foot. Benedetta said touching the statue ended due to Covid and was roped off:



Michelangelo’s Pièta:





Then we went through our first Holy Door (which was on the right) as the tour group went through the central door initially:







And we paid our respects to Pope John Paul II:



We then exited into the square and had a little fun recreating a 1992 photo:





Our second planned basilica and Holy Door was the Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. After waiting for a bus, we were able to successfully match with a driver on Uber and arrived at the basilica in about 25 minutes. It is adjacent to a Benedictine abbey and although irs not in the Vatican, it’s still a part of it. It also houses the body of St. Paul, the Apostle. Pictures below:















All the Popes are painted and a light is shown on the empty one as they wait for Pope Leo XIV’s and updating Pope Francis’ birth and death years:



At the end of the visit, we snacked on some paninis, and my mom insisted we had time to return to Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran or San Giovanni in Laterano. Yesterday, we weren’t able to enter due to the Papal mass. I rationalized we had an even greater experience and I was concerned about my mom’s energy levels, but she wanted to complete the foursome. Some folks might wonder where I get my FOMO energy and enthusiasm for “doing things”, but the apple does not fall far from the tree. We hopped in a taxi that had just unloaded a young family and we returned to the third Basilica:













Here’s a photo of the Papal Altar - above it are busts of St. Peter and St. Paul and supposedly their skulls or parts of their skulls are stored inside. Also, apparently the wooden table of which St. Peter and early popes held mass is within the altar. The basilicas and various churches continue to impress us with their relics and it was very cool to watch the new Pope preside mass here yesterday:





After taking ample rest in the seats and my mom lighting her umpteenth candle on the trip, we grabbed the #16 bus and took it three stops to our fourth basilica of the day which was planned and for our final Holy Door. This was at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, also known as Santa Maria Maggiore. It’s the largest Marian church of Rome and holds the first Mary icon in the western world:







The relic at this basilica is supposedly wood from the Holy Crib of the nativity of Jesus and the crypt is the resting place of Saint Jerome:



This is the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament:



And of course, our fourth and final Holy Door:







The Marian icon, Salus Populi Romani is supposedly painted by St. Luke the Evangelist and is the oldest known. I didn’t take a photo as it was in a chapel where people were praying, but Pope Francis wanted to be laid to rest as close as possible to the painting as this is where he prayed before he traveled and when he was in distress. In over 12 years, he visited over 100 times and even right after he was discharged from the hospital before his passing. He’s the 9th Pope buried in Santa Maria Maggiore and the first in over 100 years to be laid to rest outside of St. Peter’s.

As such, there were crowds paying their respects and we were shuttled quickly past his tomb after passing through the Holy Door. This was the 2nd busiest basilica after St. Peter’s:





In doing some research, I decided to book the extra visit to the upstairs which is relatively new to the public. I had booked a 6 pm entry, but we were able to enter at 5 pm. Here is the Loggia of the Blessings and the view from the balcony where the Pope stood yesterday after his mass at San Giovanni in Laterano:







The Bernini staircase:



And after about forty steps and escorted by a guide, we were able to exit on to the terrace for a dome panorama tour. My mom elected to enjoy a bench in the museum while Justin and I took in the views:











I feel sorry for the Chinese tourist who was on our 15 minute dome panorama tour as he thought he was booking the Vatican tour and had schlepped all the way there, when they told him they were sold out for the day and he had actually booked the Santa Maria Maggiore dome tour. Hopefully, he appreciated the basilica itself as the dome tour is not that exciting, and knew that the new Pope had visited yesterday - there were signs still up showing support:



We did it! We went to all four Papal Basilicas after the audible yesterday and we were done for the day. Surprisingly, we were doing okay but weren’t particularly hungry, but knew if we headed back to the hotel, we wouldn’t make it out again. So we walked less than ten minutes to L’Archetto di Cavour which is Justin’s friend’s favorite local joint. We ordered sea bass with zucchini, steak, spaghetti with mussels, and a salad. And on our walk back to the hotel, we had our last gelato from Gelateria Santa Maria Maggiore. We even saw a Korean grocery store on our way, but couldn’t go inside due to the ice cream:



We then rested and packed to get organized for our return trip back home with our clean slates four times over!