Pope visits Rome prison on Holy Thursday

Since the beginning of his pontificate in 2013, the Pope has made it a habit to spend Holy Thursday with people on the margins of society. This is a practice he had already established in Buenos Aires when he was archbishop.

He has often visited prisons in Rome, including his first visit to Regina Coeli in 2018, and in 2014, he visited a center for people with disabilities. In 2021, he surprised everyone by celebrating Mass at the home of Cardinal Angelo Becciu, whom he had forced to resign a few months earlier due to his involvement in the so-called “London building affair.”

Welcomed shortly before 3 p.m. by Regina Coeli director Claudia Clementi and prison staff, the Pope was led to the prison's central rotunda, where he met with the 70 inmates involved in the chaplaincy.

Located between the Janiculum Hill and the Tiber River in the northern Trastevere district, Regina Coeli is Rome's largest prison. It also has a women's section and was built in the late 19th century on the site of a former convent, from which it took its name, meaning “Queen of Heaven.”

Unlike in 2018, the 88-year-old pope, who is recovering from a serious respiratory infection, was unable to celebrate Mass in the prison this time. He therefore did not perform the ritual of washing the feet, a gesture he particularly cherishes. This ritual recalls the gesture performed by Christ to his disciples during his last supper.

Images broadcast by Vatican media show the Pope in a wheelchair, without respiratory assistance. After a time of prayer, Francis greeted each of the prisoners present in the rotunda, which had been transformed into a chapel for the occasion. Before leaving, he recited the Our Father one last time and gave his blessing to those present.

Leaving the prison in a white Fiat 500, he stopped briefly in front of journalists to say in a weak voice: “Every time I enter a place like this, I ask myself: Why them and not me?”

When asked how he would spend the Paschal Triduum, he replied simply: “As best I can."