Pope Francis visits Venice
Venice, the Pope meets the prisoners in prison
“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,” he said the Pope invites prisoners to “do not 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”. “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 experience this moment not so much as an 'official visit' of the Pope, but as a meeting in which, for grace of God, we give each other time, prayer, closeness and brotherly affection. Today we will all emerge from this courtyard richer, perhaps the one who will emerge richer will be me, and the good that we will exchange will be precious”, he said. Pope francesco. “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 it”, he said. “It is essential that the prison system also offers prisoners tools and spaces for human, spiritual, cultural and professional growth, creating the conditions for their healthy reintegration. Please, do not 'isolate dignity', but give new possibility!” he underlined in his speech at Giudecca.
Leaving the Giudecca prison in Venice, Pope francesco he greeted some children who handed him some drawings. Then the Pope answered the questions of a local journalist: “How did you find Venice?”. “Fresh!”. On the visit to prison he said: “Prison is a preference for me. Every time I go to prison I say: why them and not me?”. The Vatican media reported it on social media.
“It's true that no one has a monopoly on human pain. But there is a joy and suffering that come together in the feminine in a unique form and which we must listen to, because they have something important to teach us. I think of artists like Frida Khalo, Corita Kent or Louise Bourgeois and many others. I hope with all my heart that contemporary art can open our gaze, helping us to adequately valorise the contribution of women, as co-protagonists of the human adventure”. The Pope said this while speaking to the artists during his visit to the Biennale of Venice.
The Pope at the Basilica of the Madonna della Salute, in Punta della Dogana where he was welcomed by the applause of 1,700 young people from the dioceses of the Triveneto, belonging to parish groups and scouts. 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 couch.”For God you are not a digital profile, but a son, who has a Father in heaven and therefore you are 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 that brings us 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 “, he underlined.
The Dad then he invited young people to be “revolutionaries” by not seeking profit as the world does. In the meeting with the young people at the Basilica della Salute, in Venice, she 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 the useful! Then you will be revolutionaries – she underlined the Pontiff -. Go, give yourself without fear!”. Finally Pope Francis said: “God knows that, in addition to being beautiful, we are fragile, and the two things go together: a bit like Venice which is splendid and delicate at the same time. That is, it is beautiful and delicate, it has some fragility that needs to be taken care of”. Then a new passage on the lagoon city, when he asked young people to go “against the current”. “Venice itself tells us that only by rowing consistently can you go far. If you are a Venetian citizen, learn to row consistently to go far. Of course, rowing requires regularity; but perseverance pays off, even if it costs effort. So, guys, this is getting up: letting yourself be taken by the hand by God to walk together”, concluded the Pope.
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