ROME - Pope Francis has been thanked for “giving hope” after meeting a group of inmates from the maximum security Rebibbia prison. 

  The twelve prisoners were initially received by the pope at Santa Marta, together with the director, two female magistrates and other officials. They were then taken on a visit to the Vatican Museums. The prisoners gave a basket of fresh bread to the pope which they, themselves, had prepared to say ‘thank you’ “for the gift of hope that he is offering at us inmates.” 

  The pope assured that the families of the inmates would be in his prayers whilst father Moreno M. Versolato, chaplain of the Roman prison, spoke of the importance of “community” and how the experience echoed the idea of a “‘school of life’ for everyone.” The director of the “pope’s museums”, Barbara Jatta, commented that “these galleries are the house for everyone.”

  Father Moreno expressed how the visit to the museums had an even greater significance “because in this period of the pandemic the inmates have suffered hugely from isolation and marginalisation as they haven’t been able to hug their loved ones.” 

  At the end of the morning in the Vatican, the director of the prison spoke of an experience of acceptance and hope: “the gift of bread for the pope has an enormous value for us: in the middle of lockdown we have started a bakery workshop and seven inmates have been hired by a company. And even the gift of the ‘tile’ with the cross, an expression of the mosaic course, is not a formal gesture but a sign of faith and hope."