A remarkable spiritual pilgrimage unfolded in 2025 as nearly 3.2 million Catholics journeyed to the heart of the Church to participate in a variety of papal liturgies and prayers during a Jubilee year that also included the election of a new pope.
According to the Prefecture of the Papal Household, the year saw 3,176,620 faithful take part in official events at the Vatican. These included Masses, Jubilee celebrations, papal audiences, and Sunday Angelus prayers, according to Vatican News.
The Prefecture of the Papal Household, which is responsible for distributing free tickets to papal events and coordinating the pope’s daily meetings, released its annual statistics Dec. 30. The report focuses only on Vatican-based events and does not include massive gatherings elsewhere such as the 1 million people who gathered to see Pope Leo XIV at Tor Vergata just outside Rome in August and the large crowds during his recent papal trip to Turkey and Lebanon.
CatholicVote reported on May 7 that a record-breaking crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square on the first evening of the papal conclave, with more than 45,000 faithful present to witness the first fumata nera, or black smoke, indicating that no pope has been elected. The figure was confirmed by Italian police responsible for general security in the area, and commentators noted that it was unusual to see such a large crowd on the first evening.
The year began with quieter numbers due to Pope Francis’ declining health, with around 263,000 pilgrims visiting from January to his passing in April. However, the election of Pope Leo on May 8 sparked a dramatic spike in numbers. In just the months following his election, more than 2.9 million Catholics came to see and pray with the new Holy Father.
October stood out as a peak moment of devotion: Nearly 200,000 participated in liturgies, and close to 300,000 gathered for General and Jubilee Audiences. The Angelus prayer reached its highest attendance in the month of December, with 250,000 joining Pope Leo to honor Our Lady.As CatholicVote previously reported, nearly 1.7 million people visited Pope Francis at the Vatican in 2024, which was not a Jubilee year and the late pope’s final full year as pontiff.
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