Pope Francis meets 70 detainees in the Roman prison of Regina Coeli for Holy Thursday

Pope Francis, who is still convalescent and recovering from pulmonary pneumonia, moved to the Regina Coeli prison in Rome for the Mass of Holy Thursday to meet 70 detainees.

As reported by the Vatican Press Office, the Pontiff arrived in the prison, located near the Vatican and, therefore, in the heart of the city, around 14:54 (local time) where she was received by the director, Claudia Clementi, in addition to the penitentiary staff. It was a fleeting visit that extended only for about 30 minutes.

“He is entering the main roundabout, where he will hold an encounter with about 70 inmates,” said the Vatican press office in a brief statement through Telegram.

In the photo you shared Vatican News In the social network X, the pontiff sitting in his wheelchair is seen and without the nasal cannulas that until recently he needed continuously to breathe.

The Holy Father, 88, did not participate this morning the Crismal Mass held in the Basilica San Pedro instead by the Emeritus President of the Heritage Administration of the Apostolic Headquarters (APSA), the Italian Cardinal Domenico Calcagno.

However, he did not want to miss his traditional meeting with the prisoners he usually visits every Holy Thursday. In 2018, the Mass of the Lord’s dinner also celebrated in this penitentiary center and, despite the sciatica, he knelt on the floor to wash his feet to twelve of them.

The pontiff takes prisoners in the heart. In his first Holy Week as Pontiff, that of 2013, the Holy Father surprised the Romans going to the youth jail instead of the Basilica of San Juan de Letán, his cathedral as Bishop of Rome, which he frequently visits. In the penitentiary, he washed ten boys and two girls, one of them Muslim.

Then he has repeated the gesture in other prisons, which confirms that he leads to the prisoners in the heart.

After inaugurating the Jubileo de La Esperanza with the opening of the Holy Gate of the Basilica of San Pedro, the Pontiff moved two days later, on December 26, to the Rebibbia prison to do the same.

The holy doors, as is tradition, are only in the four papal basilic of Rome – San Pedro del Vaticano, San Juan de Letrán, Santa María la Mayor and San Pablo Extramuros – but also the Pontiff made protagonists of this gesture of grace to people deprived of liberty, with the opening of the door of this penitentiary center of the Italian capital.