Pope Leo XIV presided over the final major celebration of the Holy Year yesterday, calling for renewed commitment to justice, rehabilitation, and hope as he celebrated a Jubilee Mass dedicated to prisoners in St Peter’s Basilica. Source: CNA.
About 6000 pilgrims from about 90 countries took part in the Jubilee of Prisoners, including detainees and their families, prison chaplains, correctional officers, police, and prison administrators.
Participants came from across Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania, including Italy, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Poland, Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, the United States, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Australia.
In his homily, the Pope said that as the Jubilee Year drew to a close, significant challenges remained within prison systems worldwide.
“While the close of the Jubilee Year draws near, we must recognise that, despite the efforts of many, even in the penitentiary system, there is much that still needs to be done,” he said. Quoting the prophet Isaiah – “the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing” – Leo said the passage recalled that “it is God who ransoms, who redeems and liberates”.
The Pope acknowledged the harsh realities of incarceration, saying prison was “a difficult place and even the best proposals can encounter many obstacles”.
For that reason, he said, people must not “tire, be discouraged or give up,” but continue “with tenacity, courage, and a spirit of collaboration.”
Leo stressed that justice should not be reduced to punishment alone.
“There are many who do not yet understand that for every fall one must be able to get back up, that no human being is defined only by his or her actions and that justice is always a process of reparation and reconciliation,” he said.
The Pope also recalled the hopes expressed by his predecessor, Pope Francis, for the Holy Year. Leo said Francis had wanted Jubilee celebrations to include “forms of amnesty or pardon meant to help individuals regain confidence in themselves and in society” and to offer “real opportunities of reintegration” to all.
“I hope that many countries are following his desire,” the Pope said, noting that in its biblical origins the Jubilee was “a year of grace in which everyone was offered the possibility of restarting in many different ways.”
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Pope Leo XIV urges mercy, reform as Jubilee of Prisoners closes Holy Year (By Veronica Giacometti, CNA)
