Pope tells prisoners: I too need pardon

July 10, 2015

On a July 10 visit to a notorious prison in Bolivia, Pope Francis asked inmates to pray for him, saying that he, too, needed pardon.

“The man standing before you is a man who has experienced forgiveness: a man who was, and is, saved from his many sins,” the Pope told prisoners at the Palmasola prison.

This prison—built to house 800 people, but now crowded with over 5,000—is run by the inmates. Conditions are squalid, violence is rampant, and drug abuse is commonplace.

The Pontiff asked the prisoners to work together to improve their conditions. He told them that the devil “is always looking for rivalry, division, gangs.”

 

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Further information:

• Pope to prisoners: Help one another (Vatican Radio)
• Pope to Palmasola inmates: “The man standing before you is a a man who was forgiven and saved from his many sins” (Vatican Insider)
• Pope sees notorious Bolivia prison where money buys survival (AP)
• Pope Francis’s Visit to Bolivian Prison Highlights Abuses Within (Wall Street Journal)