Pope Leo XIV called on Sunday for countries to grant "forms of amnesty" or sentence commutations to prisoners during a mass held in St. Peter's Basilica as part of the Jubilee dedicated to prisoners.
The pontiff recalled that for the Jubilee, which will conclude on January 6, Pope Francis had asked to "grant also forms of amnesty or sentence commutations aimed at helping people to regain confidence in themselves and in society and to offer all of them real opportunities for reintegration."
"I trust that in many countries his wish will be fulfilled," he added.
"As we know, in its biblical origin, the Jubilee was precisely a year of grace in which, in many ways, everyone was offered the possibility of starting anew," the pope said at this last major event of the Holy Year.
Before thousands of people, including many prisoners who had been granted permission to participate in this Jubilee, the pope called for: "May no one be lost!"
"Precisely for this reason, one must not tire, be discouraged or retreat, but to move forward tenaciously, courageously and with a spirit of collaboration," he added.
And he explained that "in fact, many still do not understand that one must rise from every fall, that no human being coincides with what he has done, and that justice is always a process of reparation and reconciliation."
He also urged facing problems such as "overcrowding, in the still insufficient commitment to guarantee stable educational recovery programs and job opportunities."
"And let us not forget, on a more personal level, the weight of the past, the wounds that must be healed in the body and in the heart, the disappointments, the infinite patience that is needed, with oneself and with others, when embarking on paths of conversion, and the temptation to give up or to no longer forgive," the pope concluded.
From Spain, organized by the Prison Pastoral Department of the Episcopal Commission for Social Pastoral Care and Human Promotion, a delegation of 122 members participated. Among them 32 inmates, 14 chaplains, 3 bishops, 49 volunteers, 21 officials and 3 ex-inmates, from 10 prisons across the country.
Photo EFE
