Pope Leo, closing Catholic Holy Year, urges kindness to foreigners


Pope Leo XIV leads the Mass for the Epiphany of the Lord in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, January 6, 2026. REUTERS/Yara Nardi

VATICAN CITY, Jan ‌6 (Reuters) - Pope Leo closed the Catholic Church's Holy Year on Tuesday by sealing shut ‌the special "Holy Door" in St. Peter's Basilica and urging Christians worldwide to ‌help those in need and treat foreigners with kindness.

Leo, who has made care for immigrants a central theme of his early papacy, said at a Vatican ceremony that the record 33.5 million pilgrims who visited Rome during ‍the Holy Year should have learned not to treat ‍humans as mere "products".

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