Vatican City, 22 March 2015 (VIS) –
Yesterday the Pope visited the Giuseppe Salvia Penitentiary in
Poggioreale. Upon arrival he was welcomed by the director of the
centre and the chaplain, and he greeted the detainees from the
forecourt of the institution. After lunch the Holy Father handed them
a brief written discourse, several paragraphs of which are reproduced
below:
“At times we feel disillusioned,
discouraged, abandoned by everyone, but God does not forget his
children – He never abandons them. He is always at our side,
especially in times of difficulty; the Father is 'rich in mercy'. ...
This is a certainty that gives comfort and hope, especially in
difficult and sad times. Although we have erred in life, the Lord
never tires of showing us the way back to the path and encounter with
Him. … It is a fundamental certainty for us: nothing can separate
us from the love of God! Not even the bars of a prison”.
“Dear brothers, I know your painful
situations: I receive many letters – some truly moving – from
prisons around the world. Inmates often live in conditions unworthy
of human beings, and subsequently are unable to reintegrate into
society. But, thanks be to God, there are also leaders, chaplains,
educators, pastoral workers who know how to stay close to you in the
right way. There are some good and meaningful experiences of
reintegration. We must work on this, to develop these positive
experiences, so they help nurture a different attitude in the civil
community and also in the community of the Church. At the basis of
this commitment is the conviction that love can always transform the
human person. And so, a place of marginalisation, as a prison may be,
in a negative sense, can then become a place of inclusion and
stimulus for society as a whole, so that it becomes just and more
attentive to people”.
“I invite you to live every day,
every moment in the presence of God, to Whom the future of the world
and of man belong. This is Christian hope: the future is in God's
hands. History makes sense because it is inhabited by God's
goodness”.
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