Last weekend all the Holy Doors around the world – from a humble tent in the Iraqi city of Erbil to the gold-ceilinged Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome – were closed. All, that is, except one: the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica. This Sunday, the last day of the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis will give the vast door a gentle push. It will swing shut, be sealed by Vatican workmen and remain closed for many years to come.

The Holy Father looked ahead to this poignant moment in Misericordiae Vultus, his bull announcing the Jubilee Year. “On that day, as we seal the Holy Door,” he wrote, “we shall be filled, above all, with a sense of gratitude and thanksgiving to the Most Holy Trinity for having granted us an extraordinary time of grace. We will entrust the life of the Church, all humanity and the entire cosmos to the Lordship of Christ, asking him to pour out his mercy upon us like the morning dew, so that everyone may work together to build a brighter future.”