Hope in jail: the prisoner reveals me the true face of Jesus

Antonio “Tony” Vargas Tenorio found Christ in an unexpected place: the Lurigancho prison, one of the greatest and most populated in Peru. What began as a professional physical rehabilitation service that provided as a physiotherapist ended up transforming into a life mission.

At 57 and with more than two decades in the prison pastoral of the Diocese of Chosica, a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Lima, he acknowledges that it has been he who has received the greatest teaching: “It is the prisoner who reveals the true face of Jesus,” he said in an interview with Aci Prensa.

A path away from faith

Raised in a Catholic family in Chachapoyas, Amazonas, Tony knew closely the Catholic Church in his childhood: it was acolyte, sacristan and sang in the choir. However, when moving to Lima at 16, he took a different course. “I have gone through episodes of intense closeness with the Church and others of total distance.

Tony remembers that, although he had everything that is supposed to give happiness, he felt a vacuum that could not fill out. “There was money, there was success, but there was no peace.

“I lived bitter, trying to do the opposite of what faith teaches.

The unexpected call: the religious who brought him closer to God

Tony is part of the prison pastoral since March 10, 1999, but for many years he saw his care work as something merely social. “I attended to those that nobody wanted to attend: the sick, the elderly.

For several years, without faith and immersed in social activism, he gave treatment in prisons to older adults, HIV patients, and TB, as well as others with drug problems and antisocial behaviors.

“I served years in the Lurigancho prison without faith.

The Lurigancho prison, one of the largest in the country, faces a serious overcrowding problem, operating more than 500% of its capacity, According to recent data of the statistical unit of the National Penitentiary Institute (INPE). This crisis reflects an alarming situation in the penitentiary system, where 50 of the 69 establishments have critical overpopulation levels. Extreme cases such as the penalties of Jaén and Abancay, which exceed 500% overcrowding, show the urgency of measures to relieve this problem.

The turn in Tony’s life came with a providential encounter, when she met Sister Ana Marzolo Fenoglio, a missionary of Maria’s society, who had been working with prisoners for decades. “She had that gift to read people.

One day, the religious invited him to participate in an emotional healing workshop aimed at prisoners. “At first I refused.

“In jail we are closer to God than many outside”

What he found at that meeting disarmed him and changed his perspective of life completely. “I had never felt something like that. Little by little, the resistance was transformed into interest, and then in commitment.

“For all the time I was left of the faith, from God, the only thing that I had a connection with the church, was the lord of miracles. He has always sustained me, but I didn’t see it, ”he tells ACI Press.

When he finally entered the Lurigancho prison from the HNA invitation. Ana, the impact was immediate. “There were 11,000 prisoners in a penalty designed for 3,000.

For Tony, the daily treatment with the inmates was transforming it, because since then it began to visit frequently and not only once a week. “From there, I felt that something had caught me.

“I realized that prisoners taught me much more than I could offer them.

One of the moments that marked him was when a prisoner said: “Brother Tony, We here in jail are closer to God than many outside. Because here we have had to face our truth. ”

The priest who reconciled him with the Church

In 2011, the arrival of Fr. Norbert Nicolai, a German priest, changed his perception of the Church. “My problem was not with God, but with the institution.

It was with him that Tony again attended Mass, specifically to the Sunday Eucharist in the Chapel of the prison. “I discovered another face of faith, one that was real and experiential. Finally, after more than two decades, he confessed and communed again. “Feeling that I was in communion with God was a wonderful experience.”

Remember with emotion the day he knelt after communing: “It was as if a huge load disappeared from my shoulders.

The prison pastoral: more than spiritual comfort

From 2009 to the end of 2024, Tony has been coordinator of the prison pastoral in Lurigancho. The pastoral team began with 14 people and last year there were already 32, with the possibility of increasing in number. “Our work is to remind prisoners who are children of God and that can rebuild their lives. We do not see them as ‘poor’, but as people responsible for their destiny. ”

Beyond spiritual aid, pastoral faces the structural problems of the Latin American prison system. “Prisons are overwhelmed. However, the approach is not welfare. “We accompany, but we also demand responsibility.”

Transformation testimonies

In his more than 20 years in Lurigancho, Tony has witnessed deep changes in inmates, who have found a life purpose. “I have seen people make a transformation of 180 degrees.

“Some have studied right to defend themselves and help others. Faith gives them a reason to change”, He adds.

For Tony, this is a clear example of how God acts, even when people do not recognize it. “They are people who live a faith without knowing it.

Interestingly, these transformation stories do not come from people who were regular to the Church. “They were not missionaries or the choir, they simply went to chaplaincy, spoke and shared.

Discovering the Gospel in prisons

Tony has also learned deep lessons from inmates. “I have learned to value the family.

In addition, he highlighted the capacity of inmates to fight adversity, a fortress that has witnessed innumerable transformation stories.

“Another of the greatest learning that you have obtained in this service is that the center of the world is not me,” he adds.

“The prisoner must be seen in the eye”

A pair of tons, Prison pastoral begins to recognize the humanity of the other. “A rule that I learned since I entered and that I have transmitted to all the agents is that the prisoner is a person. Smile, remember names, show genuine interest. If you don’t go for them, then you go for you. Greet, shake hands … “.

He stressed that this service is not for everyone, but it is a work deeply rooted in faith. “Prison pastoral is a privileged space to serve from faith in God. Hands are always needed. It is not for everyone; It requires particular skills and conditions, but what really moves those who perform it is the love of God and neighbor. ”

In addition, he emphasizes that the aid does not end in the prison walls. “The prison pastoral service also continues outside.

But Tony recognizes that, in the end, it is God who touches the hearts of the inmates, and that is why we must “pray for them, ask God to transform them and accompany them in their path of conversion is already a first step.