Pope speaks to young prisoners about ‘punishment with hope’
August 25, 2017
Pope Francis has sent a video message to young prisoners taking university courses at a prison in Ezeiza, Argentina.
“The inmates are serving a penal sentence—a sentence for errors they have committed,” he said. “Let us not forget, however, that, for punishment to be fruitful, it must have a horizon of hope, otherwise it remains locked in itself and is only an instrument of torture, it is not fruitful.”
The university courses, Pope Francis continued, are part of “a punishment with hope, a punishment with a horizon. Let me say once again: problems are there and will be there, but the horizon is bigger than the problems. Hope goes beyond all problems.”
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Further information:
- Pope Francis: video message to Ezeiza student-inmates (Vatican Radio)
- Full text of message in Italian, Spanish (Holy See Press Office)
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