thumb|A Holy Door by [[Vico Consorti at the Ferdinando Marinelli Artistic Foundry during its construction]]
thumb|The Holy Door by [[Vico Consorti, cast by Ferdinando Marinelli Artistic Foundry of Florence, is the northernmost entrance of Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It will next be opened for the 2033 Jubilee.]]
thumb|right|Rear of the Holy Door. Contained inside are several medals and canonical documents from the Pontificate during which the door was last opened. Having been shut since the end of the [[Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, the door was reopened on 24 December 2024 for the 2025 Jubilee.]]
A Holy Door () is traditionally an entrance portal located within the Papal major basilicas in Rome. The doors are normally sealed by mortar and cement from the inside so that they cannot be opened. They are ceremonially opened during Jubilee years designated by the Pope, for pilgrims who enter through those doors to piously gain the plenary indulgences attached with the Jubilee year celebrations.
In October 2015, Pope Francis expanded the tradition by having each Latin Catholic diocese throughout the world designate one or more local Holy Doors during the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, so that Catholics could gain the plenary indulgences granted during the Jubilee year without having to travel to Rome.
History
In 1300, Pope Boniface VIII began the tradition of the Holy Year, known as a Jubilee. The Catholic Church has celebrated them every 25 years or so ever since. A major part of the Holy Year for Catholics is a pilgrimage to Rome. The ritual passing over the threshold of the holy door symbolises the passing into the presence of God. At the same time, remission of the temporal punishment for the pilgrims' sins is granted, known as an indulgence.
One of the earliest accounts of the Holy Year dates back to a Spanish historian, traveler and pilgrim called Pedro Tafur in 1437. Tafur connects the Jubilee indulgence with the right of sanctuary for those who had escaped persecution. He noted its existence in pagan times for all who crossed the threshold of the Puerta Tarpea, previously upon the site of the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran. Accordingly, at the request of Emperor Constantine I, Pope Sylvester I published a Papal Bull proclaiming the same immunity from punishment for Christian sinners who took sanctuary there.
In 1450, the Florentine merchant Giovanni Rucellai of Viterbo cites that the first Jubilee door was opened in 1423 under the pontificate of Pope Martin V.
Rucellai, who lived at the time also speaks of the five doors of the Lateran basilica: