This is not a cheap hope. Pope Francis, in opening, by standing up and knocking with his hands on the door of the Church of the Our Father, the Holy Door in Rebibbia, “this too is a basilica”, he later commented to journalists, asks the inmates to hold on to the rope even when your hands hurt. «This is the message I want to give you; to everyone, to all of us. I’m the first. Everyone. Don’t lose hope. Hope never disappoints. Never. Sometimes the rope is hard and hurts our hands… but with the rope, always with the rope in our hands, looking at the shore, the anchor carries us forward. There is always something good, there is always something that keeps us going.” And then, continues the Pontiff, there is a second thing to do: «Open wide, open: open the doors. But more important is what it means: it is opening your heart. Open hearts. And this is what brotherhood does. Closed hearts, hard ones, don’t help you live. For this reason, the grace of a Jubilee is to widen, open and, above all, open hearts to hope. Hope never disappoints! Think carefully about this. I think so too, because in bad moments one thinks that everything is over, that nothing can be resolved. But hope never disappoints.” And then he explains, inaugurating the Holy Door on 26 December, on the anniversary in which John XXIII, in 1958, crossed the threshold of Regina Coeli to bring comfort to prisoners, «I like to think of hope as the anchor that is on the shore and we are there with the rope, safe, because our hope is like an anchor on dry land. Don’t lose hope.” Then he wishes everyone «much peace, much peace. And every day I pray for you. Really. It’s not a figure of speech. I think of you and pray for you. And you pray for me.”
And finally, in wishing you good wishes for the new year, hope that “the next one is better than this one. Every year has to be better. Then, from here, I want to greet the prisoners who remained in their cells, who were unable to come. Greetings to each and every one of you. And don’t forget: hold on to the anchor. Hands clasped. Don’t forget it. Happy New Year everyone.”
On his way out, the Pope stopped to comment with the journalists present, explaining that the prisoners who spoke to him told about their lives. and added: «You know that every time I come to prison the first question I ask myself is why them and not me… because any of us can slip, the important thing is not to lose hope. cling to the anchor of hope and open, open your heart wide and hold on to the anchor rope.” Even though Justice Minister Nordio was present, Francesco, who hoped for a gesture of clemency for the prisoners, did not put the issue to him again, but spoke about the situation of the prisoners today. «The first Holy Door I opened was that of St. Peter», he continued, «the second Holy Door in this basilica. The prison has become a basilica in quotation marksbecause I wanted to open the second Holy Door here, then the other basilicas: Santa Maria Maggiore, San Paolo, San Giovanni in Laterano, but this is the second basilica in quotes.” And it was important for the Pontiff to be among the prisoners of Rebibbia «because many of these are not big fish, the big fish have the excuse of staying outside, we have to accompany the prisoners and Jesus says that on Judgment Day we will be judged on this: I was in prison and you visited me.”
