“Prison is a harsh reality, and problems such as overcrowding, the lack of structures and resources, episodes of violence generate a lot of suffering there”. The Pope said this to the inmates of the Giudecca in Venice, inviting them “not to take away the dignity of anyone”. Prison “can also become a place of rebirth, moral and material, where the dignity of women and men is not ‘put in isolation’, but promoted through mutual respect and care of talents and abilities”.
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The Pope’s first meeting in Venice is with the Giudecca inmates: “I wanted to meet you at the beginning of my visit to Venice to tell you that you have a special place in my heart. I would therefore like us to live this moment not so much as a ‘ official visit of the Pope, as a meeting in which, by the grace of God, we give each other time, prayer, closeness and brotherly affection. Today we will all leave this courtyard richer, perhaps the one who will emerge richer will be me, and the the good that we exchange will be precious,” Pope Francis said. “It is the Lord who wants us together in this moment, having arrived along different paths, some of them very painful, also due to mistakes from which, in various ways, each person bears wounds and scars. And God wants us together because he knows that each of us we, here, today, have something unique to give and to receive, and that we all need it”, “each of us has our own singularity, a gift to offer and share”, said the Pope in his first speech in Venice.
“It is essential that the prison system also offers prisoners tools and spaces for human growth, spiritual, cultural and professional, creating the conditions for their healthy reintegration. Please, do not ‘isolate dignity’, but give new possibilities!”. The Pope said this in his speech on the Giudecca in Venice.
After meeting the artists at the Venice Biennale and remembering that women in art “have something important to teach us”, quoting Frida Khalo, the Pontiff arrived at the Basilica of the Madonna della Salute, at Punta della Dogana where he was welcomed from the applause of the 1,700 young people from the dioceses of the Triveneto, belonging to parish and scout groups. To them, Francis sent a strong message inviting them to “stand up”. “Getting up from the ground, because we are made for Heaven – he said -. Getting up from sadness to look up. Rise to stand facing your waist, not sitting on the sofaor”.
“By God you are not a digital profile, but a son, that you have a Father in heaven and that you are therefore a son of heaven”. The Pope said this while speaking to young people at the Salute in Venice. “Yet often – added Pope Francis – we find ourselves fighting against a negative force of gravity which brings down, an oppressive inertia that wants us to see everything as grey”. The Pontiff therefore invited us to “go together” because “‘do it yourself’ doesn’t work in big things. This is why I tell you: don’t isolate yourself, look for others, experience God together, follow group paths without getting tired. You might say: ‘But around me everyone is on their own with their cell phones, addicted to social media and video games’. And you, without fear, go against the current: take life in your hands, put yourself on the line; turn off the TV and open the Gospel”. Then he commented: “This is too much”. Francis again told the kids: “Leave your cell phone and meet people! The cell phone is very useful for communicating but be careful when the cell phone prevents you from meeting people”. “A hug, a kiss, a handshake, people”, underlined the Pope.
The Pope invites young people to be “revolutionaries” not seeking profit as the world does. In the meeting with the young people at the Basilica della Salute, in Venice, he invited them first of all to be “creators of beauty, to do something that wasn’t there before”. “Think within yourselves about the children you will have,” she added. Hence the appeal: “Do not be professionals of compulsive typing but creators of novelties”. “a gesture of love for someone who cannot reciprocate: this is creating, imitating the style of God. It is the style of gratuitousness, which takes us away from the nihilistic logic of ‘I do to have’ and ‘I work to earn’. The center it’s free.” “Be creative with gratuitousness, give life to a symphony of gratuitousness in a world that seeks profit! Then you will be revolutionaries – underlined the Pontiff -. Go, give of yourselves without fear!”.
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