The Holy Door is, in the portico, the last on the right, and it is the first to have been opened in the history of Jubilees, during the Holy Year of 1423.
It was Pope Martin V – entombed in front of the main altar – who identified in the crossing of the door what became, from then on, the quintessential sign of the Jubilee pilgrimage: passing through the true door, which is Christ, to receive the gift of His grace.
It was not until Christmas 1499 that Pope Alexander VI instituted the opening of the Holy Door in Saint Peter’s as well.
