The Pope, on the occasion of the Jubilee of 2025, addressed the Governments of the world asking them to take initiatives aimed at restoring hope to prisoners and said – “In the Jubilee Year we will be called to be tangible signs of hope for many brothers and sisters who live in difficult conditions. I think of the prisoners who, deprived of freedom, experience every day, in addition to the harshness of imprisonment, the emotional void, the restrictions imposed and, in quite a few cases, the lack of respect.
“I propose to the Governments – added the Pontiff – that in the Year of Jubilee initiatives are taken that restore hope; forms of amnesty or sentence remission aimed at helping people regain confidence in themselves and in society; reintegration paths into the community which correspond to a concrete commitment to complying with the laws”.
“It’s an ancient call – the Pope underlined – which comes from the Word of God and remains with all its wisdom value in invoking acts of clemency and liberation that allow us to start again”.
Hence the warning: “In every corner of the earth, believers, especially Pastors, should act as interpreters of these requests, forming a single voice that courageously calls for dignified conditions for those imprisoned, respect for human rights and, above all, the abolition of punishment of death, a provision contrary to the Christian faith and which destroys any hope of forgiveness and renewal”.
Then followed the announcement of what the Pope himself will do: “To offer prisoners a concrete sign of closeness, I myself wish to open a Holy Door in a prisonso that it may be a symbol for them that invites them to look to the future with hope and with a renewed commitment to life”.
