Prisoners always held a special place in Pope Fran-cis’ heart, and he demon-strated his love for them throughout his pontificate. He visited them in the vari-ous countries he traveled to and even, for the Jubilee of Hope, decided to open a Holy Door himself at the Rebibbia prison for the first time in history.
During his first Holy Week after being elected pontiff in 2013, he went to the prison to wash the prisoners’ feet, a gesture he repeated every year until his final Holy Thursday, four days before his death. On April 17, the ailing pontiff visited the prisoners at Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven) prison near the Vatican, a testament to his tireless defense of human dignity and his predilection for castoffs. Father Raffaele Grimaldi, who oversees the work of Italian prison chaplains, emphasized in an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, that the initiative by the Holy Father is a sign that “his attention to the least and the poor was evident until his very last day.” “When he went to Regina Coeli, a few days before returning to the Father’s House, he wanted to leave us with a great message of ministering to the incarcerated,” he noted.
Spanish bishops speak out after leaks of their meeting with Leo XIV
The executive committee of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, (CEE, by its Spanish acronym) meeting in Madrid this week, issued an official statement regarding the leaks
