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Vatican Jubilee Planning

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We had planned Apr. 28, 2025 for a late in the day visit to St. Peters, including a dome hike. We've been before and were planning to skip the museums/Sistine chapel this time.

I just read that the Jubilee year will include a "Jubilee of People with Disabilities on Apr. 28. The website says that there will be a pilgrimage to the holy door from 8-5, followed by mass in St. Peters square at 5 p.m.

Now, I'm not sure what to do. My instincts are to avoid the area. But, someone in our party really wanted to climb the dome. And, I think it might be neat to see the mass (will that be the Pope conducting mass?).

Anyway, any idea if this will be so big to simply say don't go. Or, could we sneak in and climb the dome and maybe see part of the mass in the square? I don't mean to be insensitive. But, obviously many of the disabled will not be climbing the dome. Would that still work. Security lines? Any thoughts much appreciated. Thanks.

Posted by
1132 posts

It sounds like you can’t buy tickets ahead of time, have to go thru security and the dome closes at 6 pm April-Oct. And you have a special mass going on. Oh boy….Hopefully, someone on here can give you first hand advice. Good luck.

Posted by
12026 posts

I cannot help but wonder would the dome be open while the Pope is celebrating Mass. That's your homework assignment :-)

IF you can be up there during Mass, I do not think you could even see the canopy where Mass is celebrated from the dome. I think all you would see are the people in the square, and not much else.

Picking another day might be the choice to make. ? Hopefully your schedule has some flexibility

Posted by
19 posts

Some further looking shows viator selling tours of the basilica and the dome as late as 2 pm. So, I am assuming that the dome is open at least that late. I didn’t mean to infer we would try to watch the mass from the dome. We just want to climb the dome and then it would be interesting to see all or part of the mass from the square. Hhhmmm. I don’t have flexibility on days. But, maybe I can move the day around a bit.

Anyone have experience with how crowded these jubilees can get and whether the dome stays open during the mass in the square?

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