ROME — Pope Francis inaugurated his own Holy Year Thursday in Rome’s main prison, bringing a message of hope to the inmates and involving the Catholic Church in a celebration that will bring some 32 million pilgrims to Rome every quarter of a century.
Francis rose from his wheelchair, knocked on the door of the Rebibbia prison chapel and crossed the threshold, repeating the gesture he had made two nights earlier on Christmas Eve at the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica.
The official opening of the Holy Door of the Basilica in the Jubilee year, a church tradition 1300, which now takes place every 25 years and involves the faithful who come to Rome on pilgrimages.
“I opened the first Holy Door at Christmas in San Pedro. I wanted the second one to be here, in a prison,” Francis told the prisoners, before entering. “Each of us here, inside and outside, had the opportunity to open the doors of our hearts and to understand that hope does not disappoint.”
Francis dedicated the 2025 Jubilee to hope and made it clear that prisoners would be an important part of it: the last great event of the Jubilee is a special mass for prisoners on December 14, 2025 in San Pedro. made a long prison ministry an important part of his priestly vocation and since becoming pope in 2013 he has made several visits to Rebibbia, including visits to the prison in his many trips abroad.
His the message is always one of hopebelieving that people serving prison terms need something to look forward to more than most. This is especially true in Italy, where prison massage and prisoner suicides are at record levels, according to the Antigona Association, which monitors prison conditions.
According to Antigone’s 2024 report, 88 prisoners committed suicide in Italian prisons this year – more than in any other year – and Italy’s prison population was over 132% of the system’s capacity.
In his homily, Francis suggested to the prisoners that they think of hope as an anchor fixed in the ground and try to hold on to the rope that is tied to it, even if sometimes their hands hurt.
“Hold on to the rope of hope, hold on to the anchor,” Francis said. “Never leave.”
Francis’s trip to Rebibbia on a cold morning was the last major event of the week, after celebrating Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Tuesday evening and giving the Christmas Day blessing from the loggia overlooking the square.
The 88-year-old Pope, who often suffers from respiratory infections in the winter, has a few days to rest before preparing for the New Year’s Eve vigil and mass the following day.
Francis 2025 brings a dizzying calendar of Jubilee events that will severely test his longevity, with special Jubilee Masses for all major groups of pilgrims celebrating throughout the year: teenagers, migrants, teachers and law enforcement, among others.
So far, he has only one foreign trip under investigation: the visit to Turkey in May, 1700 of the Council of Nicaea. to celebrate the anniversary of the first ecumenical council of Christianity.
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