Pope Francis opens the 'Holy Door' of St Peter's Basilica on Christmas Eve - kicking off year-long Jubilee of Catholic celebrations set to attract 30MILLION

Pope Francis opened the 'Holy Door' of St Peter's Basilica on Christmas Eve on Tuesday, kickstarting the special Jubilee year of Catholic celebrations. Pope Francis also presided over the Christmas Eve mass at St Peter's Basilica, where he once again addressed the victims of war. Pope Francis opens the Holy Door to mark the start of the 2025 Jubilee at St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican The Pope at the Christmas Eve mass, where he used a speech to refer to victims of war Members of the clergy follow Pope Francis through the Holy Door to mark the Jubilee Some 700 security officers are being deployed around the Vatican and Rome for the Jubilee celebrations, with measures further tightened following Friday's car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Germany. The Pope drinking from a golden goblet during the Christmas Night Mass The Jubilee, whose motto this year is 'Pilgrims of Hope', is primarily aimed at the world's almost 1.4 billion Catholics The 88-year-old Pope was wheeled up to the Holy Door to preside over the ceremony Pope Francis addressing the Christmas Eve mass at St Peter's Basilica Prelates attend the Christmas Night Mass at the Vatican on Tuesday evening Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attending the Christmas Night Mass at St Peter's Basilica Crowds gathered outside the basilica at St Peter's square during the mass The Argentine pontiff presided over the special ceremony to open the Jubilee year, during which 30 million visitors are expected to descend on the Italian capital Much of the Italian capital has also been given a facelift in preparation, with monuments such as the Trevi Fountain and the Ponte Sant'Angelo cleaned up and roads redesigned to improve the flow of traffic.