Seminarians and priests studying in Rome got a front-row seat to a year marked by pilgrimage, papal transition and celebration
ROME — Last week in Rome, Pope Leo XIV ceremoniously closed the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica, marking the end of the Jubilee Year of Hope.
Having begun under Pope Francis the previous year, the holy year drew millions of pilgrims to the Eternal City, including Catholics from Michigan and across the world. Ordinarily held once every 25 years, jubilee years offer Catholics special graces for visiting the Holy Doors at Rome's major basilicas and the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul.
For several Michigan Catholics, the jubilee was a deeply personal experience, especially for the students and seminarians living in Rome.
Among them is Fr. Ryan Asher, a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit currently assigned to Divine Child Parish in Dearborn. Formerly a seminarian at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, Fr. Asher recounted to Detroit Catholic his experience of completing his studies there during the jubilee year.
“Being in Rome during the jubilee year, I was able to spend time with many visitors, friends and pilgrims and to walk through the Holy Doors with them,” Fr. Asher said. “There was one particular person with whom I walked through the Holy Door at St. Paul Outside the Walls. He was a little skeptical at first of the whole idea, but he found it to be a very moving experience, even to the point of tears. That experience has prompted me to go before the Lord with greater humility.”
While 2025 was marked by jubilee events for various groups, it was also a year of papal transition. The year began with the illness and death of Pope Francis, who had opened the jubilee. The pope's passing — a moment of mourning during a usually celebratory time — drew additional pilgrims to Rome, culminating in his funeral on April 26.
The mourning, however, eventually gave way to celebration again with the election of the first pope born in the United States: Pope Leo XIV.
Fr. David Pellican, a Detroit priest completing graduate studies at the Pontificio Ateneo Sant'Anselmo in Rome, recalled the jubilation and excitement of the moment.
“After Pope Francis’s passing on Easter Monday and after laying him to rest, there followed a period of waiting,” Fr. Pellican said. “I was fortunate to have been in St. Peter’s Square when the white smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel chimney, indicating the election of a new pope. Pope Leo XIV’s first words, ‘May the peace of the Lord be with all of you!’ were very reassuring. This experience reminded me that we must keep our eyes fixed on Christ and that the sacraments, like the Holy Doors, are instruments of hope and witnesses to the faith of the martyrs.”
Other Michiganians living in Rome during the jubilee year included Thomas Crowley and Deacon Jacob Derry, seminarians of the Diocese of Lansing living and studying at the Pontifical North American College.
An unexpected blessing of the jubilee year was the opportunity to welcome pilgrimage groups from back home while they prepare for their own ministries among the people of Michigan.
“This last year has been filled with so much life,” said Deacon Derry, a transitional deacon for the Lansing diocese. “It was a joy to serve as a deacon for a couple of Masses with groups from back home. I joined one group at (the Basilica of) St. John Lateran to preach and serve, and I found a family I knew at St. Paul Outside the Walls.
“All of this reminded me of why I am going home: to serve these people,” Deacon Derry added. “And yet, here was this special opportunity to do it in Rome first.”
Crowley, who is on track to be ordained a transitional deacon next year, recounted a special opportunity to celebrate the jubilee with his spiritual mentors.
“For me, this year was one of abundance. I will never forget doing a jubilee pilgrimage to St. Peter’s Basilica with (Lansing) Bishop Earl Boyea and our vocations director, Fr. Mike Cassar,” Crowley said. “This reminded me of hope as an anchor — an anchor that compels us to go out and share the good news.
“This also taught me that God gives us the grace to answer His call for our lives,” Crowley added. “Learning to humble myself and trust in God’s grace is a valuable lesson I will take from this jubilee year.”
