VATICAN CITY (RNS) — As Pope Francis stays hospitalized on the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, Italian prisoners are praying for his restoration, Catholic chaplains stated, noting the pope’s longtime deal with addressing the wants of incarcerated individuals.
The Rev. Raffaele Grimaldi, inspector basic of chaplains in Italian prisons, informed a small group of Vatican reporters on Friday (March 7) that he despatched a notice to each jail chaplain within the nation to wish for the pope.
“Ever since Pope Francis started his Petrine ministry in 2013, he has at all times had a particular regard towards people who find themselves incarcerated,” Grimaldi stated, including that “you’ll be able to’t think about how a lot struggling is within the hearts of prisoners in seeing the pope on the hospital and struggling.”
Francis admitted himself to the hospital on Feb. 14, and docs identified him with a polymicrobial an infection inflicting pneumonia in each lungs. Whereas the pope has had some extreme respiratory crises throughout his hospitalization, his situation was secure as of Monday (March 10).
“Proper now, all the individuals of God — and particularly detainees — at all times pray to God that the pope will get well, whether or not it’s within the silence of their cells or within the celebrations led by the chaplains,” Grimaldi stated.
Francis’ closeness to prisoners has been an everyday theme throughout his hold forth. He has met with jail chaplains on many events, supporting their ministry and highlighting the theme of mercy.
Pope Francis washes and kisses the ft of 12 girls inmates of the Rebibbia jail within the outskirts of Rome on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024, a ritual meant to emphasise his vocation of service and humility. (Photograph by Vatican Media)
Through the Holy Thursday celebrations main as much as Easter final 12 months, he washed the ft of feminine prisoners, marking the primary time a pope washed the ft of ladies. In earlier years, he knelt to clean the ft of different inmates, together with migrants and refugees.
Francis grew to become the primary pontiff to open a Holy Door in a penitentiary as an alternative of at a basilica on Dec. 26, 2024. The 12 months 2025 is taken into account a Jubilee Yr, or an anniversary celebration for the church the place trustworthy can cross the 4 Holy Doorways and acquire forgiveness for his or her sins. Marking the occasion, the pope opened the second Holy Door on the Rebibbia Jail Advanced in Rome, the most important penitentiary in Italy and able to housing over 2,000 inmates.
Already respiratory closely and struggling to stroll, the pope opened the Holy Door on the jail, adopted by a small crowd of incarcerated individuals, safety guards and Italian officers.
“I needed every one among us, all of us in right here and on the market, to have the prospect to open the doorways of the center and perceive that hope doesn’t disappoint,” the pope stated on the time.
The Rebibbia jail “is an emblem for each jail on the planet,” Grimaldi stated, “to inform the entire world to look inside our prisons.”
He stated, for individuals who are incarcerated there, the Holy Door is “an indication of clemency, an indication of closeness and hope.”
This coming April, a delegation led by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the top of the Italian Bishops’ Convention and the pope’s peace envoy to Ukraine, will cross the Holy Door in Rebibbia to point out the church’s dedication to the incarcerated. And in December, there can be a Jubilee of Prisoners, by which prisoners are invited to make a pilgrimage to St. Peter’s Sq. in Vatican Metropolis.
For the 2025 Jubilee, Francis additionally requested that nations think about “types of amnesty and pardon” for prisoners and known as for an finish to the loss of life penalty within the official papal bull for the Holy Yr.
The pope’s enchantment is supposed to stir the conscience of world leaders, Grimaldi stated. He stated in Italy, Mons. Rino Fisichella, who oversees Jubilee occasions, is charged with reaching out to civil authorities concerning prisoners’ points. In the USA, the Convention of Catholic Bishops and lay organizations resembling Catholic Mobilizing Community have raised consciousness of the pope’s plea and lobbied authorities officers to contemplate pardons for prisoners.
Grimaldi, who spent 23 years as a chaplain within the Secondigliano jail on the outskirts of Naples, Italy, stated he hopes the pope’s message of openness and welcoming towards prisoners continues to be heard regardless of his sickness and past the Jubilee Yr.
Following the information of the pope’s hospitalization, inmates on the Roman jail Regina Coeli joined in prayer for the pontiff.
“For them, the pope is a lighthouse, a star that at all times cares for them,” stated the Rev. Vittorio Trani, the jail’s chaplain, whereas talking to the information company of the Italian Bishops’ Convention. “For that reason, they see him as somebody who’s near them, attentive towards their issues and keen to make their voice heard to everybody by making it his personal.”
Francis is well-liked even amongst non-Catholic prisoners, Trani added, due to his willingness to advertise the wants of people who find themselves incarcerated.
“It’s as if Francis have been a household pope for them,” he stated.
