Pope Francis opens second Holy Door, celebrates Mass at largest Italian prison

CV NEWS FEED // On Dec. 26, Pope Francis opened a special Holy Door for the Jubilee 2025 at the Rebibbia prison on the outskirts of Rome, in a move that the Vatican described as “historic.”

The Pope stood in front of the prison’s Church of Our Father, symbolically flinged the doors open and explained to the group of inmates attending that he wanted everyone to “have the opportunity to fling open the doors to their hearts and to understand that hope never disappoints,” according to Vatican News.

“I wanted to throw open the Door, today, here. I opened the first one to Saint Peter, the second one is yours. It is a beautiful gesture to throw open, to open: to open the doors,” Pope Francis said during the homily. “But more important is what it means: it is to open the heart. Open hearts. And this is what brotherhood does.”

“Do not lose hope. This is the message I want to give you; to everyone, to all of us. I am the first. Everyone. Don’t lose hope. Hope never disappoints. Never,” the Pope said. 

He also highlighted that “even in the most difficult situations – each of us has our own, easier, more difficult, I think of you – always the heart open; the heart, which is precisely what makes us brothers. Open wide the doors of the heart. Everyone knows how to do it. Everyone knows where the door is closed or half-closed. Everyone knows.”

He finished his homily wishing the inmates “a great Jubilee.” 

“I wish you much peace, much peace,” he said. “And every day I pray for you. Really. It’s not a figure of speech. I think of you and I pray for you. And you pray for me.”

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