Monsignor Fisichella to prison staff: “The Jubilee will pay special attention to prisoners”

Yesterday, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, spoke at the National Conference of Prison Chaplains and Prison Pastoral Workers, taking place in Assisi from 24 to 27 April. “The Pope is thinking about the next Jubilee with special concern for prisoners,” said the Pro-Prefect. “He will ask governments to provide amnesties" he added. This is so that the Jubilee dedicated to people in prison, scheduled for 14 December 2025, can "combine the idea of hope with concrete gestures of hope".

“In the millennium that lies before us,” continued Archbishop Fisichella, as he focused on the theme of prisons and restorative justice, “a millennium marked by the progress of technology, by a culture such as the digital one, which allows you to know where people are at any given time and also to know what they are doing, why not think about alternative strategies, instead of thinking about building new prisons? This is my dilemma." And he added: “Is it really possible, that with all the technology that exists and will increasingly exist in the future, that we cannot find alternative ways to ensure that those who commit crime can be redeemed more easily?”