Mons. Ginés García Beltrán, Bishop of Getafe (Spain), began the Jubilee of 2025 in the Valdemoro prison south of Madrid, remembering that hope is capable of breaking “the bars of the heart.”
In the assembly hall of the Madrid III penitentiary center and before about 100 prisoners present, the Spanish prelate highlighted that “it is a joy to be able to celebrate these days that are so beautiful, so endearing, so bittersweet for you too, because they are also days of longing. ”.
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As reported by the Diocese of Getafeinmates were able to see the opening of the Holy Door of the Rebibbia prison in Rome, and heard Pope Francis’ complete homily for this occasion.
“Here we do not have a Holy Door like in San Pedro, not even like in the prison in Rome. Yes, we possibly have a key, and one can ask: why do I want a key if I don’t have a door? Because I believe that the Pope has said it in some way, we all do have a door, which is the door of our heart,” the bishop continued.
“Many times, most of the time, the greatest lack of freedom is not outside, although the outside, which I am going to tell you so that you do not know, is very difficult, it is very hard, but many times the outside door is what is reflecting is the door inside, which is closed and that I cannot open.”
After pointing out that it is possible to create a “mountain” of reasons for despair while in prison, the prelate highlighted that in the middle of it “a little girl gets in who doesn’t make noise, who doesn’t take up much space, but who later becomes great, which is called hope.”
After emphasizing that Jesus, the true hope, “never lets you down,” the bishop warned that “the saddest thing and what can kill a man the most is not being in jail or not being in jail. “What can kill a man is having lost hope, whether in prison or outside of prison.”
“In the midst of the darkness that we all have, you too, perhaps in a special way, there is always a ray of light called hope. Saint Paul also says: hope against all hope. Dear brothers, let us not lose hope,” the bishop exhorted.
“The one that is capable of breaking the bars is hope.” “Hope, as I have already said, has a name. The hope that never ends: Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, the one who was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem,” the Spanish bishop remarked.
Walter Sánchez Silva
I have been a husband since 2008. My wife and I have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before he was born. Since I joined ACI Prensa in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Cologne, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and of Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the Family synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Synodality, in 2023. I closely follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers persecution from the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as current ecclesiastical events in the region.