It was the turn of Ireland's 2,000 pilgrims to pass through the Holy Door of St Peter's and claim their special Jubilee Year indulgence, after attending an open-air Mass celebrated in the Circus Maximus by Bishop James McLoughlin of Galway.
The number of participants in the Jubilee of the Young has been so large that Vatican authorities have opened an extra door to function as a Holy Door, keeping the basilica open from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. to cope with the roughly 400,000 pilgrims wishing to enter every day.
Crowds streamed down the steps of the Basilica, across the square and far down the Via della Conciliazione, sprayed periodically with water hoses by firemen to cool them down. "I'm very excited. I think it's a great occasion," said Derek O'Byrne (25), from Waterford, as he waited with a group from the archdiocese of Dublin for his opportunity to enter the Holy Door.
An account manager at a CD company, Mr O'Byrne said he had enjoyed the opportunity of meeting other young people from all over the globe. "It's amazing to see them mixing so well," he said.
Archbishop Sean Brady of Armagh praised the seriousness with which young pilgrims had been approaching the jubilee events. "They know they are not on holiday. It's not a jamboree, it's not a festival.
"It's a very focused, purposeful kind of meeting, where they have spilt buckets of sweat, endured hours of thirst and yet remain good humoured, disciplined, remarkably respectful of the environment," he said.
The Primate of Ireland said the Jubilee had demonstrated the diversity and vitality of the Catholic Church. "Two days ago we were celebrating Mass in St Mary Major's, and alongside us were the Copts, from Alexandria in Egypt, celebrating their jubilee." "It displays an immense diversity, an immense richness, and I think there are lessons for Ireland too, that we can cope with diversity and take it on board and be enriched by it," he said.
Pilgrims were conducting a kind of "peer evangelisation", deepening one another's faith by their example as well as by their words, the archbishop said.
Last night Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Vicar of Rome, led Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum, the last major public event before the prayer vigil and Mass at the Tor Vergata university campus at the weekend. Up to two million people are now expected to attend.