A few days before his death, Pope Francis made a personal donation of €200,000 (around $228,000 at today’s exchange rate) for prisoners. Bishop Benoni Ambarus, an auxiliary bishop of Rome, remarked on this gift in an interview with the Italian daily La Repubblica published on April 23, 2025.
When one of his auxiliary bishops requested money for prison ministry, Francis gave from his own pocket, not the Vatican's. His last visit was to a Roman prison.
“When I asked for a contribution, he told me that the finances were closed. Then he added: 'Don't worry, I have something in my account.' He sent €200,000 from his own pocket. [...] He gave himself entirely to the least among us,” commented the delegate for prison ministry.
Francis’ last visit outside the Vatican
In the interview, Bishop Ambarus also recalled that the Pope's last visit outside the Vatican was on Holy Thursday to the Regina Coeli prison in Rome. He had gone to spend time in prayer with the prisoners.
“I like to do every year what Jesus did on Holy Thursday — the washing of the feet — in prison,” he told the inmates. He added: “This year, I cannot do it, but I can and want to be close to you. I pray for you and your families.”
Leaving the prison in a white Fiat 500, he stopped briefly in front of journalists and said 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 Holy Week, he replied simply: “As best I can.”
After the Pope's death, his doctor, Sergio Alfieri told La Repubblica that in their last conversation, Pope Francis had told him how sorry he was “not to have washed the prisoners' feet: This time, I didn't manage to do it.”
Photo by Handout / VATICAN MEDIA / AFP
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