Pope Francis to open Holy Door at Rebibbia Prison on December 26
Francis himself had announced the gesture in the Bull of Indiction “Spes non confundit”
Archbishop Fisichella confirmed the date and place during the press conference on Jubilee appointments, reporting on an agreement with Italian Justice Minister Nordio to make effective, during the Holy Year, forms of reintegration for several inmates through social activities.
It will be his 15th visit to a prison, this time for one of the most significant moments in the entire pontificate and in the very history of Jubilees: on Dec. 26, the feast of St. Stephen, Pope Francis will open the Holy Door in Rome’s Rebibbia penitentiary. In that place, already visited nine years ago for a Holy Thursday, the Pope wants to go as a “pilgrim of hope” and ideally place himself next to the inmates of all the prisons scattered around the world.
The announcement in the Bull “Spes non confundit”
The gesture, a tangible sign of the proclamation of hope that the Jubilee brings, Francis himself had announced in the Bull of Indiction of the Holy Year “Spes non confundit.” In point 10, the Pope, calling for dignified conditions for all those who are “deprived of freedom” and who “experience every day, in addition to the harshness of imprisonment, the emotional void, the restrictions imposed and, in not a few cases, the lack of respect,” wrote: “In order to offer prisoners a concrete sign of closeness, I myself wish to open a Holy Door in a prison, so that it may be for them a symbol that invites them to look to the future with hope and with a renewed commitment to life.”
The date and place were announced by Monsignor Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, during a conference in the Vatican Press Office on Jubilee appointments.
The Holy Door in Bangui and the visits to Rebibbia
This one in Rebibbia is also a novelty compared to the centuries-old tradition of Jubilees that had always seen the Pope open only the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica and the four papal basilicas. The previous one had been in 2015, when Francis decided to launch the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy by opening the Holy Door of Bangui Cathedral, as part of the trip to the Central African Republic he wanted to reach at all costs despite warnings and concerns about the violence taking place in the streets of the capital.
Now Rebibbia, a prison that Jorge Mario Bergoglio had already visited in 2015 by going to the “New Complex” to wash the feet of 12 inmates of different nationalities. Then he was back on March 28 this year going to celebrate Mass in Coena Domini in the Rebibbia Women’s Prison, washing the feet of twelve women. Overall, the Pope has visited 15 penitentiaries in the years of his pontificate: most in Italy, some also during trips abroad such as Palmasola in Bolivia nine years ago.
Salvatore Cernuzio – Vatican City