Two prisoners currently serving sentences in Rome’s Rebibbia prison obtained special permission to participate in Pope Leo XIV’s general audience this past Wednesday.
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“We received an official invitation from the Vatican to participate in the audience, and the inmates asked the magistrate for special permission, which was granted,” Father Marco Fibbi, the prison’s chaplain, told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. Fibbi accompanied them to St. Peter’s Square with the prison’s director, Teresa Mascolo.
“It was a great gift for the inmates to be able to exchange a few words with the pope,” the Italian priest said.
“We were all very moved because it was Pope Leo XIV’s third general audience. We had the privilege of being among the first to meet him in person. We were impressed by his accessibility, attention, and closeness with which he listened to what the inmates had to say,” Fibbi commented.
The words the pope spoke during the catechesis seemed especially fitting for those who are imprisoned: “He said that we can all be called by the Lord at some point in life; even in the worst moments when we feel most inadequate, the Lord always comes to meet us.”
The inmates at Rebibbia have committed crimes — some very serious — but they have the right to start over, Fibbi said. “All prisons are places of separation, of expiation of punishment, and therefore of much suffering and pain. But very often I have had experiences that show that all is never lost and that one can be reborn,” said Fibbi, who has been doing prison ministry at the facility for the last six years.
He added: “We are called, as prison chaplains, to nurture this hope, fostering the deep motivation to return to society in a different way or to use their time in prison as a positive moment.”
As soon as they learned they would be able to greet the pope in person, the inmates got busy making him a gift. Thanks to one of the penitentiary’s craft workshops, they handcrafted a small silver cross that reproduces the Cross of Hope, embossed with the anchor logo and the Christogram.
The prison has various spaces where inmates can develop their creativity. For example, in the workshop called Metamorphosis, they transform the battered barges that transport migrants from the Mediterranean to Europe into various objects, such as rosaries, which are then delivered to the Vatican.
Pope Francis had a special place in his heart for prisoners
“One of the first things he [Francis] did as pope was to wash the feet of those detained in the Casal del Marmo prison, a gesture he performed almost every Holy Thursday during the 12 years of his pontificate. Until shortly before his death, he wanted to visit Regina Caeli prison, although he couldn’t celebrate Mass with them because he had just left the hospital,” Fibbi recalled.
He even decided to make an exception during the 2025 Jubilee, dedicated to hope, and open a holy door in the Roman prison as well.
“In the bull announcing the Ordinary Jubilee of 2025, Spes non Confundit, he named the prison as the first place to bring hope,” the priest explained.
Fibbi shared that the prison’s detainees experienced the April 21 death of Pope Francis with great sadness and wanted to be in the front row at his funeral.
“I clearly saw them participate with great emotion in Pope Francis’ funeral. They loved him very much,” the priest noted.
Pope Leo XIV’s gesture of wanting to receive the two detainees in the audience appears to continue Francis’ legacy.
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This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
