Cuban Authorities Did Not Permit Cardinal To Visit Prisons
ZENIT, July 12, 2000 - DAILY DISPATCH - The World Seen From Rome
ROME, JULY 12 (ZENIT.org).- Although the Jubilee of Prisoners, held last Sunday, July 9, had its most symbolic moment during John Paul II's visit to the "Regina Coeli" prison in Rome, it was marked by significant initiatives in other parts of the world.
In Burundi, for example, Bishop Nterere of Muyinga celebrated Mass for some 300 prisoners, and called for better conditions of life and greater juridical guarantees for them. He acknowledged that, in order to implement this, political leaders and citizens must be sensitized to the situation of
prisoners and their families.
In Chile, a country where 70% of its 25,000 prisoners are younger than 35, the prison chaplains invited prisoners to live their Jubilee as pilgrims crossing a Holy Door. Although, this was not the door that leads to civil liberty, it was a far more important passage to interior freedom, offered
by God's forgiveness and the sinner's repentance, the key to authentic rehabilitation.
The celebration presided over by Bishop Michel Dubost in the French prison of Fleury-Merogis, on the outskirts of Paris, was extremely moving. The Bishop described the institution, which houses 4,000 prisoners, as "the largest parish" of his diocese. The Bishop also interpreted the
Holy Father's thoughts, confirming that "those who break the law can be deprived of their liberty, but never of their dignity."
In Iasi, Romania, a diocese with 2 prisons, Bishop Gheeerghel asked that the Holy Father's Jubilee message to prisoners be distributed in the prisons.
Cardinal Polycarp Pengo of Dar Es Salaam visited all 4 prisons in his archdiocese on Wednesday. He talked to prisoners and personally gave them the message of Holy Father for their Jubilee and a small gift of washing soap that was donated by the faithful on the Sunday of the Jubilee. The
prisoners were comforted by his visit and each one was eager to shake hands with him. Cardinal Pengo told them, regardless of their situations, "God loves you dearly!"
In the United States, Archbishop John Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, visited the State Correctional Institution in Graterford, Pennsylvania. During the homily Archbishop Foley admitted to the inmates, "I have never before been inside a prison. I have
visited places that have become museums. I have been in the slave labor camps of Auschwitz and Dachau, and I have seen the gas chambers of Birkenau.... I have failed, however, in not responding to the exhortation of Jesus to visit those who are in prison. For this I apologize to you." The
Archbishop thanked all those who invited him, to be able "to make amends for this sin of omission in my life and to visit with you today."
"Those in prison look back with regret or remorse to the days when they were free and they experience their time now as a burden that never seems to pass. In this difficult situation, a strong experience of faith can greatly help in finding the inner balance that every human being needs.
This is one reason why the Jubilee is so relevant to prison life: the experience of the Jubilee lived behind bars can open up unexpected human and spiritual vistas," the Archbishop said.
Archbishop Poletto of Turin, Italy, distributed 1,000 copies of the Bible among prisoners.
However, among the visits of the men of the Church to prisons, Vatican Radio singled out one sad exception. The government of Cuba denied Cardinal Jaime Ortega y Alamino, Archbishop of Havana, the possibility of celebrating the Jubilee with Cuban prisoners. He had to content himself with
celebrating Mass for their families in the Church of Charity. The Cardinal has requested permission to celebrate Mass in the prisons before the end of the Holy Year.
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