Pope Francis kicks off year-long Jubilee that will test his stamina, Rome's patience
Voice of America
Pope Francis presides over the Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at The Vatican, Dec. 24, 2024, after opening the basilica's Holy Door marking the start of the Catholic jubilar year 2025. Pope Francis presides over the Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at The Vatican, Dec. 24, 2024, after opening the basilica's holy door marking the start of the Catholic jubilar year 2025. Pope Francis opens the Holy Door to mark the opening of the 2025 Catholic Holy Year, or Jubilee, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Dec. 24, 2024. The first pilgrims pass through after Pope Francis opened the Holy Door to mark the opening of the 2025 Catholic Holy Year, or Jubilee, in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Dec. 24, 2024.
Pope Francis kicked off the 2025 Holy Year on Tuesday, inaugurating a celebration of the Catholic Church that is expected to draw some 32 million pilgrims to Rome in a test of the pope's stamina and the ability of the Eternal City to welcome them.
Congolese police officers board trucks after an enrollment of civilians, police officers, and former members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo who allegedly decided to join the M23 movement voluntarily in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo, Feb. 22, 2025.
Police officers remove anti-far-right protesters blocking the route of a far-right demonstration, a day before the German election, in Berlin, Germany, on Feb. 22, 2025.
A railway worker guides a train in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 13, 2025. Vietnam's National Assembly on Feb. 19 approved the use of Chinese loans to build an $8 billion rail link from its largest northern port city to the border with China.
FILE - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy casts his ballot as his wife, Olena, stands nearby at a polling station during a parliamentary election in Kyiv on July 21, 2019.
Dana Shem Tov, sister of Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov, reacts as she watches his televised release by Hamas militants at the family home in Tel Aviv on Feb. 22, 2025. A woman mourns at a memorial for deceased hostages Shiri Bibas, her two children, Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz at “Hostages Square,” while Israelis gather while waiting for the release of six hostages in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 22, 2025. Omer Wenkert, a hostage held in Gaza since Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, is escorted by Hamas militants as he is released in Nuseirat, Gaza Strip, on Feb. 22, 2025.
A mahout sprays water over elephants during their daily bath in a river, at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage in Pinnawala on Feb. 16, 2025 as Sri Lanka's main elephant orphanage marked its 50th anniversary. Tourists take pictures as elephants return to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage after taking their daily bath in a river in Pinnawala, Sri Lanka, on Feb. 16, 2025. Elephants stroll across the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage in Pinnawala, Sri Lanka, on Feb. 16, 2025.
People wear merchandise in support of US President Donald Trump at a vendor booth during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on Feb. 21, 2025.
A poster shows pictures of the Bibas family, top row from second left: Yarden, Shiri, and their sons Ariel and Kfir, who were kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, in Jerusalem, Feb. 21, 2025. Words above read, '37 members of Kibbutz Nir Oz are still missing.' Palestinian Hamas militants and people gather at the site of the handing over of the bodies of four Israeli hostages in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Feb. 20, 2025.
FILE - Students attend a new student orientation at the University of Texas at Dallas in Richardson, Texas, Aug. 22, 2015.
People displaced by armed gang attacks take refuge in the town hall of the Kenscoff neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Feb. 13, 2025.
FILE - U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent speaks at the White House in Washington on Feb. 3, 2025. Bessent spoke with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng by phone on Feb. 21, expressing frustration with that nation's efforts at rebalancing its economy.
Members of the M23 movement monitor the area following the takeover of the city at the Place de l'Independance in Bukavu on Feb. 20, 2025. M23 rebels guard outside the South Kivu province administrative office, at the center of east Congo's second-largest city, Bukavu, Feb. 16, 2025.