Pope brings Holy Year and prayers for better future to Rome prison, a 'cathedral of pain and hope'

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis inaugurated his Holy Year at Rome’s main prison on Thursday, bringing a message of hope to inmates and involving them in the Catholic Church’s once every quarter-century celebration that is expected to bring about 32 million pilgrims to Rome.

Francis stood up from his wheelchair, knocked on the door to the chapel at Rebibbia prison and walked across the threshold, reenacting the gesture he performed at the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica two nights earlier on Christmas Eve.

The opening of the Holy Door at the basilica officially kicked off the Jubilee year, a church tradition dating to 1300 that nowadays occurs every 25 years and involves the faithful coming to Rome on pilgrimages.

"The first Holy Door I opened at Christmas in St. Peter's. I wanted the second one to be here, in a prison," Francis told the Rebibbia inmates before he entered. “I wanted each of us here, inside and out, to have the possibility of throwing open the door of our hearts and understanding that hope doesn't disappoint.”

Francis dedicated the 2025 Jubilee to hope and made clear that prisoners would be an important part of it: The final grand event of the Jubilee is a special Mass for inmates at St. Peter's on Dec. 14, 2025. Francis has long made prison ministry an important part of his priestly vocation and has made several visits to Rebibbia since becoming pope in 2013 while also including prison visits in many of his foreign trips.

His message is always one of hope, believing that people who are serving prison sentences need something to look forward to more than most. That is especially true in Italy, where prison overcrowding and inmate suicides are at record highs, according to the Antigone Association, which tracks prison conditions.

According to Antigone's 2024 report, 88 prisoners killed themselves in Italian lockups this year — more than any other year — and Italy's inmate population was 132% over the system's capacity.

In a statement Thursday, Antigone called on Italian authorities to hear Francis' appeal to give prisoners hope. It called for structural reforms that put into practice the constitutional principles of “a punishment that is dignified, humane and looks to the social reintegration of those who are in prison.”

In his homily, Francis suggested the prisoners think of hope as an anchor that is fixed on the ground and that they try to hold tight to the rope that is attached to it, even if it sometimes hurts their hands.

“Hold onto the rope of hope, hold onto the anchor," Francis said. “Never let it go.”

Speaking to reporters outside, Francis recalled that whenever he speaks to prisoners, the first thing he always asks himself is “why them and not me.”

“Because we all can fall, the important thing is to not lose hope, to hold onto that anchor of hope," he said.

Back at the Vatican for his noon blessing, Francis called prison “a cathedral of pain and hope” as he repeated his message. He also doubled down on his 2025 wish for peace in the world and for wealthy countries to reduce or eliminate the debt owed by poorer countries.

“One of the things that characterizes Jubilees is the remission of debts,” Francis said, calling the debts owed by many poor countries simply “unsustainable."

Francis’ outing to Rebibbia on a frigid morning was his final big event of the week after he celebrated Christmas Eve Mass on Tuesday evening at St. Peter’s Basilica and delivered his Christmas Day blessing from the loggia overlooking the square.

The 88-year-old pope, who often suffers from respiratory infections in winter, has a few days to rest before gearing up for the New Year’s Eve vigil and Mass the following day.

With the St. Peter’s Holy Door now open to the public, a steady stream of pilgrims was filing into the basilica, a pace that is expected to continue through next year until the door closes on Jan. 6, 2026.

Francis’ 2025 involves a dizzying calendar of Jubilee events that will sorely test his stamina, with special Jubilee Masses for all the main groups of pilgrims who are being celebrated during the year: Adolescents, migrants, teachers and law enforcement, among others.

So far, he has only one foreign trip under study: A May visit to Turkey to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, Christianity’s first ecumenical council.

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