Catholic jubilee: What is it and should you still travel to Italy this year?

Published

2 months ago

April 7, 2025

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The King and Queen are set to begin a state visit to Italy, a trip that coincides with the Catholic jubilee year, an event that only happens every 25 years.

The four-day visit will see Charles and Camilla attend a series of public and diplomatic events in the capital, Rome, and the city of Ravenna.

This year, Rome expects to welcome three times its normal number of visitors – between 30 and 32 million, compared to an average of 10 million – as Catholics travel to the city for the jubilee, which marks a time of pilgrimage, reflection, and spiritual renewal.

The jubilee, also known as the holy year, officially began on 24 December 2024 and will run until 6 January 2026.

With major events throughout the year, Rome will be particularly busy – so much so that the UK Foreign Office has updated its advice for tourists planning to travel there.

Here is everything you need to know.

What is the Catholic jubilee?

A jubilee year is a time for Catholics to “re-establish a proper relationship with God, one another and with all of creation”, according to the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

Each jubilee year starts with the Pope opening the Holy Doors at St Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve in the Vatican City. This represents the passage from sin to grace and new beginnings. The pontiff then opens a further four Holy Doors which remain open for the entire year.

This jubilee year, the Pope opened San Giovanni in Laterano (St John Lateran) on 29 December, Santa Maria Maggiore (St Mary Major) on 1 January and St Paul’s Outside the Walls on 5 January.

For the first time, he also opened a Holy Door at a prison. He opened one at Rebibbia new complex prison in Rome on 26 December as a gesture of hope for prisoners.

As the pontiff, the Pope has the authority to proclaim any church door as a Holy Door.

The goal of pilgrims who travel to Rome during a jubilee year is to pass through at least one of the Holy Doors.

Why are the royals going to Italy?

Despite being head of the Church of England, the King was set to meet the Pope, a meeting that would have marked “a significant step forward in relations between the Catholic Church and Church of England”, according to Buckingham Palace.

However, due to the 88-year-old pontiff recovering from pneumonia, the private meeting between the two has been postponed.

Instead of going to the Holy See – the government of the Roman Catholic Church located in the Vatican – Charles and Camilla will make a historic visit to the Papal Basilica of St Paul’s Outside the Walls and the King will become the first British monarch to address a joint session of the Italian parliament.

During the last jubilee, in the year 2000, Queen Elizabeth II met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.

Can I still travel to Italy this year?

Rome is expected to be “very busy” throughout this year, particularly when bigger jubilee events take place, the UK Foreign Office (FCDO) has said.

In an update on 17 March, it advised Britons wanting to head to Italy, particularly the capital, to plan ahead.

The US Embassy in Italy has also updated its website to say: “Be prepared for crowds and extended wait times for transportation and entry into locations.

“You should book accommodations, transportation, and attraction tickets well in advance of arrival. Rome’s public transportation system will be under strain, and regular routes and schedules may change.”

There are events taking place nearly every month, with the most listed for May and June.

Events targeted towards specific groups of people, including families, workers, entrepreneurs and disabled people will take place, as well as concerts and special exhibitions in Rome’s museums.

The FCDO says people wanting to take part in the jubilee or organise a pilgrimage will need a Pilgrim’s card. This is free to download and can be obtained on the jubilee website or through the official app.

Despite Italy being busier than usual, Rome and other parts of the country are set to look their best for the jubilee, having been under construction nearly all of last year.

The capital pulled together billions of euros of state and European funds to overhaul tourist sites, transport hubs, parks, streets and even its rubbish bins.

Mayor Roberto Gualtieri told Reuters last year that the jubilee was an “unmissable opportunity to make structural changes… and transform Rome”.

A record 3,200 public construction works were scheduled to take place, including 322 projects that were deemed essential for the jubilee.

Tips from a tour guide

Livia Angelini, a travel specialist at tour operator Scott Dunn, said for people planning to visit the Italian capital this year, “timing is everything”.

She recommends avoiding peak travel season in June and July, and when planning to visit major tourist sites such as the Vatican and Colosseum, go earlier in the morning rather than in the afternoon and on weekdays rather than weekends.

Ms Angelini added that visiting “lesser-known neighbourhoods to see some of the more local areas” will also give tourists a more authentic Roman experience without huge crowds.

“Wander the quiet, charming streets of Garbatella, and lose yourself in Monti, home to eclectic boutiques and traditional Roman trattorias,” she said.

“For those travellers who seek to combine another area, I recommend heading to the coast or countryside after your time in Rome. Hop on a train to Naples and ferry across to the idyllic island of Ischia, explore the vineyards and hilltop towns of Tuscany, or embrace a slower pace of life in Puglia.”

World

The fight for the Arctic – where climate change is giving Russia room to manoeuvre

Published

14 hours ago

May 29, 2025

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The fight for the Arctic - where climate change is giving Russia room to manoeuvre

The twin threats of climate change and Russian malign activity in the Arctic must be taken “deadly seriously,” David Lammy has warned.

Sky News joined him on the furthest reaching tour of the Arctic by a British foreign secretary.

We travelled to Svalbard – a Norwegian archipelago that is the most northern settled land on Earth, 400 miles from the North Pole.

It is at the heart of an Arctic region facing growing geopolitical tension and feeling the brunt of climate change.

Mr Lammy told us the geopolitics of the region must be taken “deadly seriously” due to climate change and “the threats we’re seeing from Russia”.

We witnessed the direct impact of climate change along Svalbard’s coastline and inland waterways. There is less ice, we were told, compared to the past.

The melting ice is opening up the Arctic and allowing Russia more freedom to manoeuvre.

“We do see Russia’s shadow fleet using these waters,” Mr Lammy said. “We do see increased activity from submarines with nuclear capability under our waters and we do see hybrid sabotage of undersea cables at this time.”

In Tromso, further south, the foreign secretary was briefed by Norwegian military commanders.

Vice Admiral Rune Andersen, the Chief of Norwegian Joint Headquarters, told Sky News the Russian threat was explicit.

“Russia has stated that they are in confrontation with the West and are utilising a lot of hybrid methods to undermine Western security,” he said.

But it’s not just Vladimir Putin they’re worried about. Norwegian observers are concerned by US president Donald Trump’s strange relationship with the Russian leader too.

Karsten Friis, a Norwegian defence and security analyst, told Sky News: “If he’s too soft on Putin, if he is kind of normalising relations with Russia, I wouldn’t be surprised.

“I would expect Russia to push us, to test us, to push borders, to see what we can do as Europeans.”

Changes in the Arctic mean new challenges for the NATO military alliance – including stepping up activity to deter threats, most of all from Russia.

In Iceland, we toured a NATO airbase with the foreign secretary.

There, he said maintaining robust presence in the Arctic was essential for western security.

“Let’s be clear, in this challenging geopolitical moment the high north and the Arctic is a heavily contested arena and we should be under no doubt that NATO and the UK need to protect it for our own national security.”

This is also about distracting Russia, drawing away resources that could have been used in the war in Ukraine and deterring it in the future.

Because the more Arctic opens up, the more this once pristine wilderness is becoming the arena of national rivalry and potentially conflict.

World

‘What did they do to be burned and bombed?’: Charity calls on UK to offer Gaza children life-saving treatment

Published

20 hours ago

May 29, 2025

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'What did they do to be burned and bombed?': Charity calls on UK to offer Gaza children life-saving treatment

A British charity has written to the prime minister and foreign secretary, urging them to allow seriously ill children from Gaza into the UK to receive life-saving medical treatment.

Warning: This article contains images readers may find distressing

The co-founder of Project Pure Hope told Sky News it was way past the time for words.

“Now, we need action,” Omar Dinn said.

He’s identified two children inside Gaza who urgently need help and is appealing to the UK government to issue visas as a matter of urgency.

Israel-Gaza latest: Netanyahu reportedly accepts US ceasefire plan

Britain has taken only two patients from Gaza for medical treatment in 20 months of Israeli bombardment.

“Most of the people affected by this catastrophe that’s unfolding in Gaza are children,” he continued. “And children are the most vulnerable.

“They have nothing to do with the politics, and we really just need to see them for what they are.

“They are children, just like my children, just like everybody’s children in this country – and we have the ability to help them.”

Sky News has been sent video blogs from British surgeons working in Gaza right now which show the conditions and difficulties they’re working under.

They prepare for potential immediate evacuation whilst facing long lists, mainly of children, needing life-saving emergency treatment day after day.

Dr Victoria Rose told us: “Every time I come, I say it’s really bad, but this is on a completely different scale now. It’s mass casualties. It’s utter carnage.

“We are incapable of getting through this volume. We don’t have the personnel. We don’t have the medical supplies. And we really don’t have the facilities.

“We are the last standing hospital in the south of Gaza. We really are on our knees now.”

One of her patients is three-year-old Hatem, who was badly burned when an Israeli airstrike hit the family apartment.

His pregnant mother and father were both killed, leaving him an orphan. He has 35 percent burns on his small body.

“It’s a massive burn for a little guy like this,” Dr Rose says. “He’s so adorable. His eyelids are burnt. His hands are burnt. His feet are burnt.”

Hatem’s grandfather barely leaves his hospital bedside. Hatem Senior told us: “What did these children do wrong to suffer such injuries? To be burned and bombed? We ask God to grant them healing.”

The second child identified by the charity is Karam, who, aged one, is trying to survive in a tent in deeply unhygienic surroundings with a protruding intestine.

He’s suffering from a birth defect called Hirschsprung disease, which could be easily operated on with the right skills and equipment – unavailable to him in Gaza right now.

Karam’s mother Manal told our Gaza camera crew: “No matter how much I describe how much my son is suffering, I wouldn’t be able to describe it enough. I swear I am constantly crying.”

Children are among the bulk of casualties – some 16,000 have been killed, according to the latest figures from local health officials – and make up the majority of those being operated on, according to the British surgical team on the ground.