The Holy Father opened the second holy gate in the Roman prison of Rebibbia.

Opening doors means opening hearts to hope, said Pope Francis, who opened the second holy gate of the Jubilee Holy Year in Rome's Rebbibia prison on Thursday, after St. Peter's Basilica.

Ferenc opened the door of the Our Father's Church in the prison yard. The Pope reached the gate in a wheelchair, and with the help of Roman Auxiliary Bishop Benoni Ambarus, he stood up and knocked on the door, which opened at his touch. He then presented a mass in the church.

Pope Francis recalled that he opened the first gate of the Jubilee Holy Year in St. Peter's Basilica and wanted the second gate to open in prison.

"It's nice to open doors, but the message of everything is even more important, as it symbolizes the opening of hearts. An open heart creates brotherhood. Hardened hearts do not help to live, the purpose of the Jubilee Holy Year is precisely to open hearts to hope! Hope never fails! Don't lose hope!” said Pope Francis.

He believed that hope is an anchor tied to a rope, with the help of which we can reach the shore, even if holding on to the rope sometimes hurts our hands. Without hope, the windows and doors of homes remain closed, and tenderness is lost from the world, added the head of the church.

"Let there be peace in hearts and in the world!" he declared.

This is the first time in the history of the church that one of the holy gates announcing the beginning of the jubilee holy year was opened in a prison.

In addition, Pope Francis opened the holy gates in the prison two days after St. Peter's Basilica, thus preceding the opening of the gates of other Roman basilicas.

The church could accommodate three hundred people, including one hundred convicts serving their sentences in the Roman prison complex. The ceremony was attended by the Minister of Justice Carlo Nordio, the Mayor of Rome Roberto Gualtieri, Giovanni Russo, the Director General of the Italian Penitentiary, as well as the families of several prison guards and other workers.

The male prisoners gave the pope a miniature of the holy gate, while the female convicts gave the pope oil, ceramics, embroidered clothes, and pastries made in the prison's workshops. The prison guards presented an oil painting of Christ.

Rebibbia is the country's largest penitentiary with more than two thousand inmates: it was built in 1946 and consists of four separate prison buildings. Among others, Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca, II. The assassin of János Pál also served his sentence in Rebibbia.

In the extraordinary Jubilee Holy Year of 2016, Pope Francis called the doors of prison cells "holy gates".

In his Christmas message this year, he also spoke about those in prison, stressing that they too "remain sons of God".

Earlier, in the bull announcing the Jubilee Holy Year titled Hope does not deceive, the Pope emphasized the importance of paying attention to convicts and their social reintegration.

"The Jubilee Holy Year calls us to be tangible signs of hope for our brothers and sisters who are in so many difficulties. I am thinking of the prisoners who, deprived of their freedom, in addition to the burden of confinement, experience the emotional emptiness that surrounds them every day, the restrictions that apply to them and, not infrequently, the lack of respect for them," Pope Francis wrote. The head of the church called for an amnesty or partial remission of punishment from the governments.

The visit of Pope Francis falls on the anniversary, as XXIII. On December 26, 1958, Pope John visited the Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven) prison near the Vatican. At that time, the latter was considered the largest penitentiary in the Italian capital, just as Rebibbia now fulfills the same role.

Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has visited fifteen prisons around the world. He visited Rebibbia in Rome for the third time: in 2015 he visited the new wing of the prison, and this year he washed the feet of female convicts during the Maundy Thursday ceremony.

MTI

Cover image: Pope Francis opened the first gate of the Jubilee Holy Year in St. Peter's Basilica and wanted the second gate to open in prison
Source: Facebook/Vatican News