Pope Francis opens a Holy Door for the Jubilee in the Roman prison of Rebibbia

After the solemn opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica on Christmas Eve, on the feast of St. Stephen, at 8:30am Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of the Roman prison of Rebibbia, marking a historic moment in the history of ordinary Jubilees. This was the first time that, in addition to the four Holy Doors of the Roman papal basilicas, one was also opened in a penitentiary, which has become "a symbol of all the prisons in the world".

The Holy Father opened the Holy Door of the prison chapel together with Bishop Benoni Ambarus, auxiliary bishop of Rome and director of the Office for Prison Pastoral Care, and, symbolically, two detainees. After the rite, the Pope presided over Mass in the chapel packed with prisoners, volunteers, prison officers, family members and civil authorities, including the Italian Minister of Justice, Carlo Nordio, and the Mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri.

“I wanted to open the Door, today, here,” Pope Francis said at the beginning of his homily. “I opened the first one in St. Peter’s, but the second one is yours. It is a lovely gesture to throw open a door. But more important is what it means: it is all about opening the heart. Open hearts. And this is what fraternity does. Closed hearts, hard hearts … they don’t help us live. For this reason, the grace of a Jubilee is to throw open, to open and, above all, to open hearts to hope. Hope does not disappoint. Never! Think carefully about this. I will too … In bad times we think everything is over, that nothing can go right. But hope never disappoints.”

Then he added: “I want to tell you two things. First: remember the rope in your hand, attached to the anchor of hope. Second: open wide the doors of your heart. We have opened this door, but this is just a symbol of the door of our hearts. I wish you a great Jubilee. I wish you much peace, much peace. And every day I pray for you. Truly. It’s not a figure of speech. I really mean it, think of you and I pray for you. And you, please pray for me.”

On December 29, at 10am, the third Holy Door will be opened in the Basilica of St. John Lateran.