ROMA (ITALPRESS) – “We today celebrate the Jubilee of Hope for the prison world, for prisoners and for all those who take care of the prison reality”. Thus, Pope Leo, on the occasion of the Mass of the Jubilee of Detainees, in the Basilica of St. Peter.
“While the closing of the Jubilee Year is approaching, we must recognize that, despite the commitment of many, even in the prison world there is still so much to do in this direction,” the Pontiff said, adding: “Of course, prison is a difficult environment and even the best intentions can meet so many obstacles. For this reason, however, we must not get tired, discourage or pull back, but move forward with tenacity, courage and spirit of collaboration. There are many, in fact, to not yet understand that from every fall one must be able to rise, that no human being coincides with what he has done and that justice is always a process of repair and reconciliation. When, however, in difficult conditions, the beauty of feelings, sensitivity, attention to the needs of others, respect, capacity for mercy and forgiveness, then from the hard ground of suffering and sin blossom wonderful flowers and also among the walls of prisons mature gestures, projects and unique encounters in their humanity. It is a work on one’s own feelings and thoughts necessary to private people of freedom, but first to those who have the great burden of representing with them and for them justice. The Jubilee is a call to conversion and this is the reason for hope and joy.”.
“The task which the Lord entrusts to you – to all, prisoners and leaders of the prison world – is not easy. The problems to face are many – the Pope emphasizes -. We think of overcrowding, still insufficient commitment to ensure stable educational programs of recovery and job opportunities. And let us not forget, at a more personal level, the weight of the past, the wounds to be medicated in the body and in the heart, the disappointments, the infinite patience that it takes, with itself and with others, when you undertake paths of conversion, and the temptation to surrender or not to forgive anymore. The Lord, however, beyond everything, continues to repeat to us that only one is the important thing: that no one should be lost and that all ‘they are saved’. Let no one go lost! Let everyone be saved! This wants our God, this is his Kingdom, to this aim his action in the world”.
– Photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
