Vatican City, Sep 16, 2019 / 08:48 am (CNA).- In an audience with penitentiary staff and prison chaplains, Pope Francis said Saturday that sentencing prisoners to life imprisonment diminishes their “right to hope.”
“It is up to every society … to ensure that the penalty does not compromise the right to hope, that prospects for reconciliation and reintegration are guaranteed,” Pope Francis said Sept. 14 in St. Peter’s Square.
“Life imprisonment is not the solution to problems – I repeat: life imprisonment is not the solution to problems, but a problem to be solved,” the pope said.
Pope Francis explained that he believes that during the penitentiary process of rectifying mistakes, hope for the future should not be eliminated.
“Because if hope is closed in a cell, there is no future for society,” he said. “Never deprive one of the right to start over.”
Directing his message toward all prisoners, Pope Francis said: “Never let yourself be imprisoned in the dark cell of a hopeless heart; do not give in to resignation. God is greater than any problem and is waiting for you to love you.”
“Stand before the Crucifix, in the gaze of Jesus, in front of Him with simplicity and sincerity,” the pope told prisoners. “From there, from the humble courage that belongs to those who do not lie to themselves, peace is reborn with the trust of being loved, and the strength to go on flourishes again.”
“You who are detained are important to God, who wants to do wonders in you,” he said. “Have courage because you are in the heart of God; you are precious in his eyes, and even if you feel lost and unworthy, do not lose heart.”
“God is greater than our hearts,” the pope encouraged, quoting 1 John 3:20.
Pope Francis also thanked prison chaplains and volunteers for being “the bearers of the Gospel within the walls of prisons.”
He encouraged them to continue to “enter the most difficult situations with the sole strength of a smile and a heart that listens” and to carry others in prayer.
In his audience with the Italian Penitentiary Police, the law enforcement agency dedicated to the country’s prison security, inmate safety and transportation, Pope Francis encouraged the penitentiary staff to always recognize the “irrepressible dignity” in the face of “wounded and often devastated humanity.”
“Lay the foundations for a more respectful coexistence and therefore for a safer society,” he told the police and administrative staff.
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At his first general audience in St. Peter’s Square on May 21, 2025, Pope Leo XIV appeals for peace and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, where, he said, children and elderly are suffering. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Vatican City, May 21, 2025 / 08:05 am (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV in the first general audience of his pontificate on Wednesday appealed for an end to hostilities in Gaza and for the entrance of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
Speaking before tens of thousands of attendees on an overcast day in St. Peter’s Square, the new pope ended his remarks by calling the situation in the Gaza Strip “increasingly worrying and painful.”
“I renew my heartfelt appeal to allow the entry of decent humanitarian aid and to end the hostilities whose heartbreaking price is paid by children, the elderly, and the sick,” he added.
The pope’s appeal comes as the numbers of dead and injured in the Gaza Strip continue to rise under Israel’s attacks. According to reports, while some humanitarian aid has been allowed to enter Gaza, it has not yet been released for distribution.
One month to the day since Francis’ death, Pope Leo also recalled with gratitude the “beloved Pope Francis, who just a month ago returned to the house of the Father.”
Leo closely followed his written remarks, only adding the comment on Gaza, during the May 21 public audience, which he began by taking a turn around the square in the popemobile to cheers, banners, and waving flags. Some people stood on their chairs to try to catch a glimpse of the new pope, who paused often to bless babies of all ages held out to him in outstretched arms.
Pope Leo XIV pauses to bless a baby during his trip around St. Peter’s Square in the popemobile before the start of his first general audience on May 21, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media
The inaugural catechesis of the first U.S.-born pope picked up the theme begun by Francis for the 2025 Jubilee Year: “Jesus Christ our hope.”
Reflecting on the Parable of the Sower, Leo noted the unusual behavior of the sower in the story, who “does not care where the seed falls. He throws the seeds even where it is unlikely they will bear fruit: on the path, on the rocks, among the thorns.”
“The way in which this ‘wasteful’ sower throws the seed is an image of the way God loves us,” he said, echoing a part of his first message from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica after his election on May 8, that God “loves us all unconditionally.”
“First and foremost in this parable Jesus tells us that God throws the seed of his Word on all kinds of soil, that is, in any situation of ours,” Leo underlined.
He continued: “God is confident and hopes that sooner or later the seed will blossom. This is how he loves us: he does not wait for us to become the best soil, but he always generously gives us his word. Perhaps by seeing that he trusts us, the desire to be better soil will be kindled in us. This is hope, founded on the rock of God’s generosity and mercy.”
The theme of personal transformation was also repeated later in the catechesis, when Leo said, “Jesus is the Word, he is the Seed. And the seed, to bear fruit, must die. Thus, this parable tells us that God is ready to ‘waste away’ for us and that Jesus is willing to die in order to transform our life.”
Chuma Asuzu, who is Nigerian-born and living in Canada, is happy to have attended Pope Leo XIV’s general audience on May 21, 2025 with his wife and children. Credit: Kristina Millare/CNA
Husband and father Chuma Asuzu from Canada came to the square early in the morning with his family to attend the pope’s first general audience.
“It was good and I think it was interesting how he explained the seeds and how it’s the word of God,” Asuzu shared with CNA. “I really appreciate it.”
“He made the point to drive around a lot because it was his first audience and he looked emotional at the beginning,” he added.
Instead of taking an example from literature or philosophy, as Pope Francis often did, Pope Leo used Vincent Van Gogh’s painting, “The Sower at Sunset,” to prompt a meditation on hope.
Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Sower at Sunset”. Public Domain.
“That image of the sower in the blazing sun also speaks to me of the farmer’s toil,” he said. “And it strikes me that, behind the sower, Van Gogh depicted the grain already ripe. It seems to me an image of hope: one way or another, the seed has borne fruit. We are not sure how, but it has.”
“At the center of the scene, however, is not the sower, who stands to the side; instead, the whole painting is dominated by the image of the sun, perhaps to remind us that it is God who moves history, even if he sometimes seems absent or distant,” the pope noted. “It is the sun that warms the clods of earth and makes the seed ripen.”
The pontiff’s final thought was to remind those present to ask the Lord for the grace to welcome the seed of his Word: “And if we realize we are not a fruitful soil, let us not be discouraged, but let us ask him to work on us more to make us become a better terrain.”
Leo closed the audience in the customary way, singing the “Our Father” prayer in Latin and then giving his apostolic blessing.
Among the pilgrims present on Wednesday was Father Rolmart Verano, who is leading a group of jubilee pilgrims from the Diocese of Surigao, Philippines.
“I never thought that one day I will come here [to Rome],” he told CNA. “It is one of my wildest dreams that came true!”
Father Rolmart Verano, from the Diocese of Surigao, Philippines, tells CNA at the general audience on May 21, 2025, that it was a dream come true for him to travel to Rome and see the pope. Credit: Kristina Millare/CNA
“The striking point of Pope Leo XIV’s general audience is when he said that the Word of God should take root in each one of our hearts,” he said. “It should serve as a guide for our daily lives no matter that it be ordinary or difficult circumstances.”
As one of 40 members of a pilgrim group from the Diocese of Mumbai, India, Sandesh Almeida said he was immediately impressed by the kindness shown by the new pontiff at the audience.
“Peace is a good message from him,” he said. “Now with India and Pakistan … we should go for peace and the pope is mostly focusing on peace.”
Vatican City, Apr 11, 2017 / 10:56 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The caresses born of love are the most important medicine, Pope Francis told a group of patients, families, and doctors from Rome’s Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital on Monday.
“There is the danger, the risk of forgetting the most important medicine that only a family can give: caresses! It is a form of medicine that is too costly, because to have it, to be able to do this, you must give everything, you must give all your heart, all your love,” Pope Francis said April 10. “And you give them this affection, the caresses of the doctors, the nurses, the director, everyone.”
The patients, ages 5-18, met with Pope Francis at the Vatican, where he told them that “Each of you is a story. Not only the sick children, but also the doctors, the nurses, those who visit, the families.”
He recalled his Dec. 15, 2016 meeting with the group, saying that on that occasion the physicians “introduced the people to me. They all knew everyone’s names: ‘This one is fighting this disease…’.”
“They also knew what was happening in their lives. And I perceived … that more than a hospital this is a family, that is one of the words you said. The most important thing was the name, the person, and only at the end was the disease mentioned, but almost incidentally, a secondary matter. It is a family, isn’t it?”
The Pope also recalled that “you were a bit ashamed of getting up and not looking good in front of the camera, and the director, who is a bit like a mother, came up to you and said, ‘Come’, and she encouraged you. This is the beauty of a family, this is beautiful.”
“Entering in a hospital always makes us afraid, and I see this when I come up to some children, not all, but some very little ones, and they see me in white, and they begin to cry; they think it is a doctor who has come to give them a vaccine, and they cry and are afraid. I stroke them a few times and they calm down. Because there is always the function of the hospital … one must do this …”
He said Bambino Jesu “has grown a lot lately, and has become a family. … The child, the patient finds a family there. Family and community, two words that you have said and repeated, and I wish to thank you for this, because Bambin Gesù offers witness, human witness. Human.”
“It is a Catholic hospital, and to be Catholic, first you must be human, and you give human witness today. Please, continue always on this path, grow in this way.”
Bambino Gesu (which translates to the child Jesus) is the largest pediatric hospital and research center in Europe. Owned by the Holy See and known as the Pope’s hospital, Bambino Gesu also serves children from all over the world.
The Holy Father is a popular figure at the hospital, where children write him letters and know many details of his life, including words from his homilies and facts about his home country and favorite soccer team.
Pope Francis has visited the facility several times, as did Blessed Paul VI, St. John Paul II, and Benedict XVI.
Pope Francis met Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican on May 13, 2023, their first meeting since the start of the full-scale war with Russia. / Vatican Media.
Vatican City, May 13, 2023 / 09:52 am (CNA).
Pope Francis and the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, met at the Vatican on Saturday.
The May 13 encounter — their first since Russia initiated a full-scale war in Ukraine over 14 months ago — was around 40 minutes long.
The two met in a small office off of the Paul VI Hall, which is close to Pope Francis’ Vatican residence.
Pope Francis greeted Zelenskyy at the door of the building. The two shook hands and the Ukrainian president placed his hand on his heart and said, in English, “great honor.”
Pope Francis met Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican on May 13, 2023, their first meeting since the start of the full-scale war with Russia. Vatican Media
The Holy See Press Office said Francis and Zelenskyy spoke about the humanitarian and political situation in Ukraine amid the conflict.
“The pope assured of his constant prayers, evidenced by his many public appeals and continuous invocations to the Lord for peace since February last year,” the press office said. “The pope particularly stressed the urgent need for ‘gestures of humanity’ toward the most fragile people, the innocent victims of the conflict.”
Zelenskyy’s gifts to Francis were a painting of the Virgin Mary and Child titled “Loss 2022-58,” about the death of children in the conflict, and a collage made of bulletproof plate, wood, and paint from a series called “Protect the Defender.” The collage also features an image of the Virgin Mary.
The Ukrainian president spent in total about one hour at the Vatican.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy (center) speaks with Archbishop Richard Gallagher (second from right), secretary for relations with states, in the presence of Ukraine’s ambassador to the Holy See, Andrii Yurash (third from left), on May 13, 2023. Vatican Media
He also spoke with the Vatican’s foreign minister, Archbishop Richard Gallagher. They conversed in English in the presence of Ukraine’s Ambassador to the Holy See, Andrii Yurash.
On Saturday morning, Zelenskyy met with Italian President Sergio Mattarella, and later, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Meloni and Zelenskyy gave a nearly 30-minute joint press conference in the afternoon before the Ukrainian president proceeded to the Vatican for his meeting with Pope Francis.
“We are betting on Ukraine’s victory,” Meloni said at the press conference. “We will continue to provide support, including military support, so that Ukraine can arrive at the negotiations with a solid position.”
Zelenskyy thanked Meloni for welcoming him to Italy and for giving shelter to Ukrainian citizens during the war.
Meloni said Italy was Zelenskyy’s first stop in a tour of Europe this month.
The Ukrainian president is scheduled to appear live on one of Italy’s state television channels, Rai1, during a special edition of the program “Porta a Porta” on Saturday evening.
We wonder why there is a loss of faith in the Real Presence? This is what we do with non-mysteries these days…well, not “we” but…Jorge “Global Pact” Bergoglio.
“Because if hope is closed in a cell, there is no future for society,” he said. “Never deprive one of the right to start over.”
Yes, to deprive someone of “the right to start over” is “worse” than to deprive someone of “the right to keep breathing.” Far worse!
I fail to see how it is immoral to deprive a dangerous criminal of the opportunity to “start over” with his criminal career. If giving a criminal a second chance is tantamount to merely giving him a second chance to maim, rape and kill, then to Hell with giving them a second chance. The life of an innocent is too high a price to pay for rehabilitation.
The Pope’s stance on Life Imprisonment is incoherent and dangerous, just like his stance on the death penalty.
We wonder why there is a loss of faith in the Real Presence? This is what we do with non-mysteries these days…well, not “we” but…Jorge “Global Pact” Bergoglio.
“Because if hope is closed in a cell, there is no future for society,” he said. “Never deprive one of the right to start over.”
Yes, to deprive someone of “the right to start over” is “worse” than to deprive someone of “the right to keep breathing.” Far worse!
Are we headed towards yet another “inadmissible?”
I fail to see how it is immoral to deprive a dangerous criminal of the opportunity to “start over” with his criminal career. If giving a criminal a second chance is tantamount to merely giving him a second chance to maim, rape and kill, then to Hell with giving them a second chance. The life of an innocent is too high a price to pay for rehabilitation.
The Pope’s stance on Life Imprisonment is incoherent and dangerous, just like his stance on the death penalty.
Mkay, so, no death penalty, and no life imprisonment. Coming soon: no prison at all?