Rebibbia Prison, the director: The Holy Door that the Pope opens is to spirituality and justice
Hope is a precious gift that must be cultivated every day in prison and allows us to find the good in those around us: this is the feeling with which Teresa Mascolo, director of Rebibbia Nuovo Complesso, is living with the entire prison community. the wait for Francis, who will inaugurate the Jubilee 2025 with the opening of the Holy Door in the penitentiary institute on December 26
Roberta Barbi – Vatican City
Honored by the choice and fervent in waiting. In a word, excited. This is the shared sentiment that animates these days the prison population of the “Rebibbia Nuovo Complesso” (Rebibbia New Complex) in Rome – inmates, operators, agents – where Pope Francis will be on December 26 for the inauguration of the Jubilee 2025 as well. with the opening of a Holy Door in the prison, as he had already promised in the Bull of Convocation of the Holy Year Spes non confundit. The director of the prison, Teresa Mascolo, tells the Vatican media: “We perceive the Holy Door as an opening of spirituality and justice,” she says, “a place of welcome at the service of the fraternity of the world and it also represents a metaphor of spirituality. “in the sign of commitment to the equal dignity of all.”
The hope that does not disappoint
Pope Francis will go to Rebibbia as a “pilgrim of hope”, the same hope to which the Jubilee 2025 is dedicated: “I make my own the words of the Pope who teaches us that hope does not disappoint – continues the director – it is a gift that “It pushes us to act and every day in prison is precious to cultivate it because it is a feeling that allows us to find the good and the beautiful in others.” Pope Francis also often speaks of the need to build bridges that can unite prison and the people deprived of personal liberty who live there with the rest of society: “Humility is needed, respect for the dignity of the person, but also Pay attention to the word – Mascolo adds -, take care of relationships, but also relationships that heal: all this makes prisoners loosen the bonds of their own guilt. And then fair treatment that favors reintegration: this is also a fundamental pillar of that bridge.
Justice and forgiveness: two sides of the same coin
During the Holy Year, passing through a Holy Door is one of the rules that give the right to receive plenary indulgence, the highest form of Christian forgiveness. But how is the concept of forgiveness lived in prison? “I believe that justice and forgiveness are two sides of the same coin,” explains the director: “To achieve peace and reduce inequalities, we must all live in accordance with justice, but to achieve forgiveness we must reflect on our own conduct.” , especially if it has led to the commission of a crime as in the case of prisoners.
The reality of Rebibbia Nuovo Complesso: humanity and dignity
Rebibbia Nuovo Complesso, one of the four institutes that make up the Roman prison of Rebibbia, is one of the largest realities in Italy: «We currently have 1,585 inmates compared to a capacity of 1,170. While the prison population grows, the number of operators, especially prison police, decreases, but we all strive to work with a smile, obviously in compliance with our constitutional mandate, which is then declined in the prison regulations. Our slogans are: humanity and dignity of people.
Next, the director describes the characteristics that, in her opinion, those who occupy the position of director of a penitentiary institution should have, a true mission that more and more women assume: “Not only is technical training necessary,” she says, “it is “There is a lack of heart, but also courage, strength and determination: all characteristics that women have, but which must be mixed with a great sense of humanity towards people who live on the margins.”
The happy expectation of the Pope
In these days that separate her from the meeting with the Pope, the director reveals that the inmates are preparing a gift for Francis that was made in the carpentry workshop of the project that deals with the recovery of wood from migrant barges called ” Metamorphosis” and activated by the House of the Spirit and the Arts, but also reveals what his personal expectations are: “Surely Pope Francis will offer us words of closeness and understanding of the difficulties we encounter in our daily lives, but he will also instill courage in us and above all we will show the way for valuing diversity, for welcoming others and for hope.
