Pope Francis chose to keep the appointment of Holy Thursday by spending it in a place of suffering and for this reason he went to the Roman prison of Regina Coeli where he had already been in 2018. Arriving a little before 3:00 p.m., he spent about half an hour in the penitentiary meeting about seventy inmates. Few words were spoken by the Pontiff who however wanted to greet each one of those present.
"Every time I enter a place like this I ask myself: why them and not me," he says as he leaves, speaking to journalists. Pope Francis showed up without oxygen nosepieces but has just a thread of a voice and a suffering face. At the end of the event he stops to greet journalists and when asked about Easter he replies: "I'll live it as best I can." His voice is tired and feeble but he has a sense of humor when, when asked how he is, he replies: "I'm sitting!" The fatigue of post-hospitalization does not stop Francis who shows the world all his fragility.
The chaplain of the Roman prison, Don Vittorio Trani, also says it with a hint of emotion: "I hadn't seen him for a long time, you can see his face marked by suffering and age", he confides to journalists. But at the same time he underlines the strength of that gesture: "He left the Vatican and came here despite everything. It was a beautiful, moving meeting, a sign of hope for these boys". The Pope, entering the Roman prison, had said: "I like to do every year what Jesus did on Holy Thursday, the washing of the feet, in prison". But he also added: "This year I can't do it, but I can and want to be close to you. I pray for you and for your families". At the end of a moment of prayer, the Pope greeted each of the inmates individually in the Rotonda. Finally, he addressed those present again to pray the Our Father together and impart his blessing. He gave them Gospels and rosaries.
This morning the first Mass, the Chrism Mass, was celebrated in the Vatican with 1,800 priests. The Pope delivered his message through the written homily read by Cardinal Domenico Calcagno. Francis invites priests to "leave clericalism" but also to make "choices of sides" in a world crossed by so many injustices. "Our common home, so wounded, and human fraternity, so denied but indelible, call us to make choices of sides. God's harvest is for everyone: a living field, in which what is sown grows a hundred times more. May the joy of the Kingdom, which repays every effort, encourage us in the mission," we read in the text prepared by the Pope. "Many fears inhabit us and terrible injustices surround us, but a new world has already arisen," concludes the text written by Pope Francis for the celebration of Holy Thursday.
(Online Union)