On the morning of December 25, I headed back to the Vatican.
One of the main reasons I returned to the Vatican that morning was to walk through the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica during the 2025 Jubilee. The night before, I had walked to St. Peter’s Square along dark, rainy streets, so seeing the same place in daylight felt quite different. The day before, I was so focused on simply finding my way there that I hadn’t had the energy to look around. In the morning, the streets and buildings of Rome slowly started to come into view.
After breakfast at the hotel, I checked out and left my luggage at the front desk. I expected to spend a long time at the Vatican again that day, so it was nice to be able to move around without a suitcase.
I walked slowly toward St. Peter’s Square, taking in a very different Vatican from the night before.
Table of Contents
St. Peter’s Square on Christmas Day
The square was crowded, as expected. It was Christmas Day, and many people were gathering for the Pope’s Christmas blessing at noon.
On one side of the square, people were packed tightly together. Even looking at the photo now, you can tell how crowded it was, and a little later I made my way into that crowd myself. I had already been in a huge crowd on Christmas Eve, so seeing a similar scene the next day made me think, “I really am at the Vatican on Christmas.”
After waiting for a while among the crowd, I got to see the Pope’s Christmas blessing.
Since I was watching from far away, the Pope looks tiny in the photo. You can hardly find him unless you zoom in, which makes me smile now. Still, I wanted to keep this one. It’s less about how well the photo turned out and more a record that I was there in that square, sharing that moment.
After the blessing, there was one more thing I really wanted to do on this trip: walk into St. Peter’s Basilica through the Holy Door.
Walking Through the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica
I followed the line out of the square toward the basilica.
With so many people, we couldn’t move quickly and inched forward little by little. Then the Holy Door, the one I had wanted to walk through on this trip, came into view.
2025 was a Catholic Jubilee Year, and hearing about it was one of the reasons I suddenly decided to take this trip. So for me, walking through this door into the basilica meant just as much as attending Christmas Eve Mass the night before.
Many people were lined up, slowly making their way through the Holy Door. I moved slowly behind the person in front of me, and before I knew it, I had passed through the door and was inside the basilica.
Looking at the photo, it might seem like just one of many people passing through a door. But since it was a place I’d had in mind from the very beginning of planning this trip, I think I’ll remember having walked through the Holy Door for a long time.
A Different Atmosphere Inside
The first thing I noticed inside the basilica was its sheer scale. Seeing it from the outside and looking up from the inside are completely different experiences. The ceiling was so high that I couldn’t see where it ended, and everywhere I looked there were sculptures, marble, and gold decoration.
I took a few photos, but the space is so tall and wide that it was hard to capture it properly with a single phone camera.
Every time I looked up, there was some new decoration to see, so I kept lifting my head.
I couldn’t fit the whole space into one shot, but in the zoomed-in photos, even the small details on the ceiling and dome are remarkably fine.
Lighting a Candle
While looking around the basilica, I found a place where you can light a candle, so I put in a small donation and lit one.
When you’re traveling, you keep walking, taking photos, and heading to the next place. This was one of the few moments when I stopped for a while. I enjoyed seeing the grand interior, but the quiet time I spent lighting a candle and saying a short prayer is what has stayed with me most.
Works I Came Across Inside
St. Peter’s Basilica isn’t a place you finish by simply walking around once. Every few steps, there was a new sculpture, altar, or chapel.
The Baptistery Chapel
In the center was a scene of the baptism of Jesus, with a baptismal font below it. When I took the photo, I didn’t know exactly what each part was. But when I went through my pictures after the trip, I realized that even the places I had walked past each had their own story.
Monument to Pope Gregory XIII
A little further on, I came across the monument to Pope Gregory XIII. The sculpture was very three-dimensional, and the figures seemed full of movement, which caught my eye. From a distance, the sculptures inside the basilica look like part of the architecture, but up close, even the facial expressions and the folds of the clothing are incredibly detailed.
Mater Ecclesiae
I also noticed the Mater Ecclesiae image, meaning “Mother of the Church.” I think I took the photo at first because of the beautiful marble decoration, and later looked up what it was while sorting through my pictures. When you travel, you can’t know the name and meaning of every work you see. I think looking up the photos you took just because you liked them is another fun part of traveling.
Bernini’s Baldachin
Near the center of the basilica, there’s a huge structure that’s hard to look away from: Bernini’s Baldachin. Four enormous twisting columns, dark with touches of gold, rise up above the altar. It’s big even in photos, but in person it’s far more imposing. With the surrounding gold decoration and the Christmas flowers, it looked especially grand that day. If I had to pick one image to remember St. Peter’s Basilica by, this would probably be the first thing that comes to mind.
Monument to Pope Benedict XV
This one had a very different feel from the Gregory XIII monument I had seen earlier. Among all the ornate decoration, the figure kneeling in prayer naturally drew my eye as I walked by. I found it interesting that the mood of each work can be so different, even within the same basilica.
Michelangelo’s Pietà
One of the works I most wanted to see inside the basilica was Michelangelo’s Pietà. I had seen it so many times in photos and books that I thought it would feel familiar, but seeing it in person was different. It shows Mary holding Jesus after he has been taken down from the cross, and up close, the folds of the clothing, the hands, and the expressions are remarkably delicate. There was so much to see that I kept looking around as I walked, but in front of the Pietà, I stopped for a moment and looked a little longer.
One Day, a Different Vatican
That was the end of my visit to St. Peter’s Basilica, which began with the Holy Door.
The night before, I spent Christmas Eve in St. Peter’s Square in the rain. The next day, I came back to the same place, saw the Pope’s blessing, passed through the Holy Door, and went all the way inside the basilica. It was only one day apart, but the same Vatican stayed in my memory as two completely different places.
Closed Museums, and Waiting
There was one disappointment on this Vatican trip. The Vatican Museums are closed on both December 25 and 26, so I couldn’t visit the museums and the Sistine Chapel, which many people make sure not to miss when they come to the Vatican. I couldn’t move my schedule to another day either. Still, I told myself I’d come back someday as a regular tourist, and I turned around.
After finishing at the basilica, I went back to the hotel to pick up the luggage I had left there. Then I headed to the station to get to my next accommodation, near Santa Maria Maggiore. But the gates were down, and people were gathered around waiting. On Christmas Day, Rome’s public transport doesn’t run all day, only in two windows: from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and from 4:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. I had arrived right in the middle of the gap.
On top of that, the crowds dispersing from the Vatican made the whole area incredibly packed. There was no space in restaurants, and not even in McDonald’s. After some searching, I managed to find a very small pizza-by-the-slice shop near the station, and had a late lunch of one slice of pizza.
The pizza was chewy and delicious.
After a little more waiting, I finally took the metro to Termini.
Tips for Visiting Rome at Christmas
- The Vatican Museums were closed on December 25 and 26.
- On December 25, public transport only ran from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and from 4:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
- Schedules can change from year to year, so be sure to check the official websites before you go.
I’ll continue the story in the next post.
More from this trip