No, Pope Francis Isn’t Opening ‘Tomb of Lucifer’ in Vatican on Christmas Eve

Claim:

In 2024, Pope Francis will open “five sacred portals” on Christmas Eve for a ritual that has never been performed before — and one of them leads to the tomb of Lucifer.

Rating:

Context

Pope Francis is only opening one “sacred portal” on this year’s Christmas Eve, and it is not “the tomb of Lucifer,” which does not exist in the Vatican. The other four “portals” will be opened over the following days and weeks, until Jan. 5, 2025. Also, the ritual of opening “Holy Doors,” symbolic locations that are opened at the start of the Jubilee, or “Holy Year,” has been performed since 1423. The only “first” happening in 2024 is the opening of a “Holy Door” at a prison on Dec. 26, 2024.

In late December 2024, TikTok users sounded off about a claim that Pope Francis would open the “Tomb of Lucifer,” allegedly located in the Vatican, on Christmas Eve. 

The claim found its way to Reddit, with users speculating about where the claim came from. The original poster asked, “After some VERY slight (I still know absolutely nothing) research I’m sitting here thinking… where TF are they getting this?!?”

“The Tomb of Lucifer” reference is the evolution of a claim from mid-December 2024 circulating online that Pope Francis would open five “sacred portals” on Christmas Eve.

One X account that shared the rumor wrote (archived): “Pope Francis Will Be Opening 5 Sacred Portals For A Special Catholic Ritual On Christmas Eve.”

Other users claimed it would be the first time the ritual had been performed.

In short, we have rated the claim that the pope will open “five sacred portals,” including the “tomb of Lucifer,” on Christmas Eve for a never-before-performed ritual as false. We explain below.

Many examples of the rumor stemmed from an online article by the New York Post (archived) published on Dec. 9. The report’s headline read: “Pope Francis to open 5 sacred portals on Christmas Eve — for a ritual that’s never been done before.” One lengthy X post copied the article nearly verbatim, and other news outlets published similar stories.

The “ritual” refers to a Roman Catholic “Holy Year” activity, known as a Jubilee, which in modern times happens every 25 years, though a pope may occasionally declare them in other years. The “sacred portals” noted in the claim are actual doors referred to in the religion as “Holy Doors.” Only one is being opened on Christmas Eve 2024. The others are being opened on Dec. 26, Dec. 29, Jan. 1, 2025 and Jan. 5.

Snopes could not determine who first included the alleged “tomb of Lucifer” angle in the claim. But Bible scholar and author of “The Bible Says So,” Dan McClellan, points out in a YouTube video debunking the claim that the assertion the Vatican contains such a tomb could stem from Michele Basso’s “Guide to the Vatican Necropolis.” 

The guide includes a map of the Vatican Necropolis with a locale marked “The Lucifer Tomb,” constructed in the pre-Constantine era. McClellan points out that in this era the name “Lucifer” had not yet taken on its association with Satan. 

(Michele Basso’s “Guide to the Vatican Necropolis”)

McClellan says in the video:

You’ll notice the other tombs are “the tomb of Personal Name” or “the tomb of Family Name,” but this is not ‘the tomb of Lucifer, this is just “the Lucifer Tomb.” So this is probably a title. This is probably associated with some graffiti that was found in the tomb, or because it was connected in some way with one of the prominent Lucifers from the 4th century CE, like Lucifer of Cagliari, who was a prominent defender of Athanasius and the Trinity. But I think it’s probably more likely just a title because somehow the word Lucifer was associated with it. In the 300s CE, Lucifer was not a reference to Satan, it was just a generic title and there were prominent Christians who had this as their personal name. 

(Michele Basso’s “Guide to the Vatican Necropolis”)

As for the claim that this ritual has never been performed before, Catholicism has celebrated the Jubilee since 1300, when it was first enacted by Pope Boniface VIII. Vatican websites and Catholic news website National Catholic Register state that the Holy Door element was introduced in 1423 (although the official website of the 2025 Jubilee says it began in 1425). But the 2025 Jubilee marks the first time that part of the ritual will be performed in a prison.

What Are Holy Doors?

The official website of the 2025 Jubilee describes the Holy Doors as “the most powerful sign of the Jubilee, since the ultimate aim of the pilgrim is to pass through it.” The opening of a Holy Door marks the official start of the Holy Year. It continues:

Originally, there was only one door, at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, which is the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome. Later, to allow as many pilgrims as possible to take part in the Jubilee experience, the other Roman Basilicas also opened their own holy doors.

[…]

Passing through the Holy Door expresses the decision to follow and be guided by Jesus, who is the Good Shepherd. The door is a passageway that ushers the pilgrim into the interior of a church.

Pope John Paul II described these Holy Doors in his declaration of the 2000 Jubilee by saying: “It evokes the passage from sin to grace which every Christian is called to accomplish. Jesus said: ‘I am the door (John 10:7), in order to make it clear that no one can come to the Father except through him.'” 

For the 2025 Jubilee, according to the Papal Bull issued by the Vatican, the Holy Doors are located at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City (to be opened on Christmas Eve), the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran (to be opened on Dec. 29), the Basilica of St. Mary Major (to be opened on Jan. 1) and the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls (to be opened on Jan. 5). The latter three are all located in Rome. 

The fifth Holy Door will be located at the Roman prison of Rebibbia and will be opened on Dec. 26. Pope Francis said that the act of opening a Holy Door at a prison is an invitation for prisoners to “look to the future with hope and a renewed sense of confidence.” According to the church’s Dicastery for Evangelization, it will be “the first time that — in addition to the Holy Doors opened in the four Roman Papal Basilicas — one will also be opened in a penal institution too.”

Pope Francis also oversaw the last Jubilee in 2015. He declared it an “extraordinary” Jubilee — one declared separately from the traditional 25-year gap of the “ordinary” Jubilee — and dedicated it to the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second Vatican Council in 1965, the most recent ecumenical conference in which Catholic leaders convened to update certain elements of the church to reflect the modern, more secular world. The last “ordinary” Jubilee took place in 2000.

Snopes has covered numerous claims pertaining to Pope Francis in the past, including if he said “All religions are paths to God,” whether or not he presented a Nativity scene that featured baby Jesus wrapped in a kaffiyeh and if he endorsed Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Sources