Why is the "Holy Door" opened in the Jubilee?

The reason lies in its symbolism. The door is always an essential element in the architecture of a city or a house. Often it is a monument recalling some prestigious event or a fortification for defense. The door gives security and delimits the area which a community claims. From ancient times, the gate of a city was the place where civil, cultural and political life revolved; often owing to the lack of adequate space within the city walls. Thus the gate became a place of meetings, of assemblies, of commerce and judicial activities. It came to the extent that the gate was identified with the entire city: whoever possessed the gate also possessed the city, and whoever held the key of the gate held dominion over the city.

In the grand Israelite pilgrimages one entered Jerusalem and the Temple of God through gates. This came to be celebrated as the culmination of a long-awaited desire because it was a necessary passage in order to enter into communion with the Lord who livced on Mt Zion: "What joy when they said to me: let us go into the house of the Lord. And now our feet are standing at your gates O Jerusalem!" (Ps 122:1-2). It was precisely the gate/door which gave God the possibility of putting his believers in the most direct contact with himself, introducing them into his house; hence it came to be said that "the Lord loves the gates of Zion more than the dwellings of Jacob" (Ps 87:2). Whoever entered through the gate which is Jesus, he/she becomes a member of the family of God and thus a rightful citizen of that city: "It will be said of Zion: this one and that one were born in it, the Most High will establish it, the Lord writes in the book of the peoples: this one was born there. And dancing, they will sing: All my springs are in you." (Ps 87:5-7). The pilgrims that arrived at the gates of the Holy City felt that they shared in the blessing and peace which God himself established.

The gospels vitalised the image of the door and made it a symbol of Jesus who declared solemnly "Truly, truly I say to you: I am the door of the sheep....I am the door: if anyone passes through me, he is saved; he will enter and leave and will find pasture." (Jn 10:7-9). Jesus wanted to say that he was the only way to reach the Father, the unique mediator between God and humanity; only through whom one gains access to God.

Jesus expressed this concept also in other imagery when he spoke of himself: "I am the way, the truth and the life. Nobody comes to the Father if not through me" (Jn 14:6). Through Jesus God communicates with us and we communicate with God. He is the bridge between heaven and earth (Eph 10:19-23). To teach this truth, Jesus recalled the dream of Jacob in Bethel to his first disciples. Jacob had seen a ladder that stretched from earth to heaven and he exclaimed "This is truly the house of God! This is the gate to heaven!" (Gen 28:17; Jn 1:51)

The Holy Door is therefore a symbol of Jesus Christ, the true Gate of Heaven. Through him, the true and only mediator of salvation for humanity, we have reconciliation and divine forgiveness: and through him, the only way to enter into communion with God, we are introduced as children of the Father's house. His dwelling becomes our dwelling, his family becomes our family. The door of the roman basilica, the symbol of the house of God, is opened to us so that we may feel at home with him.

See also a description of the Holy Door