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Is Pope Francis allergic to marble, no matter how colorful? The contrast was striking: his radiant face December 26, 2024, inside the brick church of Rebibbia prison—one of Italy’s largest—versus his more somber expression two days earlier while being wheeled across the lavish floor of St. Peter’s Basilica.
There, in what French writer Stendhal called “the most beautiful church of the most beautiful religion in the world,” the 88-year-old Roman pontiff had opened the first Holy Door to launch the Jubilee 2025. He performed the ritual from his wheelchair, struggling to place his hand on the sculpted bronze.
At Rebibbia, however, the Bishop of Rome found the energy to rise. Wearing a red cape fastened with a golden scallop shell brooch, he advanced, leaning on a cane in his right hand, toward the black door of the prison church he had visited multiple times before. He mustered the strength to strike it six times.
“I wanted the second Holy Door to be opened here, in a prison,” the pope explained moments earlier, addressing the cameras. “I wanted everyone here, both inside and outside, to have the opportunity to open the doors of their hearts and to understand that hope does not disappoint.” He then called upon ‘Don Ben’ to join him in opening the door. Born in Romania, Archbishop Benoni Ambarus, known as ‘Don Ben’, became the first non-Italian bishop—apart from the pope—appointed in Italy in 2021.
Following the pope, who had returned to his wheelchair, the auxiliary bishop of Rome responsible for the diaconate of charity—an Italian citizen since April—entered the church, accompanied by an inmate dressed in black fleece, hands clasped. The choir, composed of prisoners, sang.
A hopeful atmosphere
At Rebibbia, Pope Francis set aside his prepared homily, opting instead to explain his groundbreaking decision to open the second Holy Door here—after St. Peter’s but before the other major basilicas of Rome: St. John Lateran on December 29, St. Mary Major on January 1, and St. Paul Outside the Walls on January 5.
“The most important thing is to open hearts. Closed, hardened hearts don’t help us live,” the Pope said impromptu. “The grace of the Jubilee is to open [doors] and, above all, hearts to hope. Hope never disappoints.” A young man with a crucifix tattooed below his right eye listened attentively just a few rows away.
“Hope is like an anchor we throw and pull toward us with a rope,” Francis continued. “Sometimes, it hurts our hands. When hearts are closed, when the doors [of the heart] are hard to open, we forget tenderness.” The pope, visibly tired during his traditional Christmas Urbi et Orbi blessing the day before, pressed on.
Screens in the prison church displayed close-ups of a tattooed inmate’s hands, partially hidden but revealing five points—a symbol of imprisonment, with the central dot representing the inmate and the surrounding four dots symbolizing the enclosing walls. Speaking of “the most difficult situations,” Francis concluded by reiterating his call to fraternity and open hearts, whether “closed or partially opened.”
“I wish you all a great Jubilee. Every day, I pray for you. This is true, not just words. I think of you and pray for you. Please, pray for me too,” the pope said under round, Art Deco-inspired chandeliers.
A token of hope
After Mass, Pope Francis spent considerable time speaking and laughing with inmates who presented him with gifts, including a basket filled with olive oil, cookies, ceramics, and bibs made at the penitentiary. Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization and organizer of the Jubilee, read a parchment penned by the Pope and left as a memento of the visit.
The opening of Rebibbia’s Holy Door, the Pope wrote, is “a sign of hope for restoring self-confidence and regaining society’s esteem and solidarity.” Nearly 300 inmates gathered outside the prison walls to bid farewell, with some straining for a glimpse of the pope through a tall, wire-mesh fence.
