The Prefecture of the Papal Household announced in a Press Release published this Wednesday, March 6, that Pope Francis will celebrate Mass in Coena Domini, on March 28, Holy Thursday, at 4:00 p.m., in the women’s prison. of Rebibbia, in Rome. The note states that “the Holy Father will travel, privately” to this penitentiary center, located on the northeastern outskirts of the Italian capital, to celebrate the Holy Mass and meet with the inmates and the center’s operators.
Between prisoners, sick and migrants
Since the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis has chosen peripheral and exclusionary places for the celebration of Holy Thursday, including penitentiary centers, refugee centers, reception centers and care for the sick or helpless young people.
On March 28, 2013, 15 days after the beginning of his pontificate, Francis went to the Casal del Marmo Penitentiary Center, a prison for minors located in the northwest of Rome.
In 2014, the Holy Father visited an establishment of the Don Carlo Gnocchi Foundation, the Santa Maria della Provvidenza center, in the Roman neighborhood of Casalotti-Boccea, which welcomes people with disabilities and mental disorders.
Meanwhile, in 2015 the Pontiff celebrated the “Washing of the Feet” on Holy Thursday in the Rebibbia prison in Rome.
In 2016, within the framework of the Jubilee of Mercy, the Pope went to a center for asylum seekers, in Castelnuovo di Porto, where he went, washing the feet of 12 of the 890 immigrants then welcomed there.
He did the same in 2017, when visiting the Paliano penitentiary center; in 2018 the ‘Regina Cœli’ prison in the center of Rome; and in 2019 the Velletri penitentiary center.
On the other hand, 2020 and 2021 were two special years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020 the Pope celebrated the Mass of the Lord’s Supper in St. Peter’s Basilica, in front of a small audience. He then paid a vibrant tribute to the many priests who died during the first weeks of the pandemic, but he could not perform the rite of foot washing, due to the current health protocol.
In 2022, the Bishop of Rome went to the New Penitentiary Complex of Civitavecchia, where he celebrated Mass in the chapel and washed the feet of inmates, of different ages and nationalities.
In 2023, after ten years, the Holy Father returned there, where he celebrated the first Mass in Coena Domini of his pontificate. On April 6, 2023, he celebrated in the Casal del Marmo juvenile prison, in Rome.
