Pope Leo XIV visits 70 inmates at a Buenos Aires prison, tells them they can start again

Pope Leo XIV began the last day of his visit to Argentina on Wednesday with a meeting at the Devoto prison in Buenos Aires. He spoke to 70 inmates about the chance to begin again, the frailty common to every human being and faith as a support in the face of failure and pain.

The pope put the experience of human limits at the center of his remarks. He said that society today treats vulnerability as a flaw to be eliminated, and he warned that certain apparent ways out, such as easy money, violence, corruption and drug use, offer only an illusion of power that ends in deception. Leo XIV said people often become aware of their own limits through sin and its consequences, or through suffering such as illness or the loss of a loved one.

The hardship of prison, but not the end

The pope acknowledged the hardship of life in prison. He spoke of sleepless nights, of not being able to hug one's children each day, of missing loved ones, and of the weight of having harmed others. Without excusing the wrongs they had committed, Leo XIV said their situation need not be the end of their lives: "This current situation you are going through is also a particular moment to be able to restart your lives."

The pope said time in prison could be a place of change, of learning new trades and of personal growth. He said that the experience of one's limits, when accepted honestly, does not impoverish a person but opens that person to recognizing God and neighbor. He called time in prison "an opportunity to start again, making peace with God and returning without fear to your families and to society."

The burden on families

Leo XIV also addressed the inmates' relatives, who he said likewise bear the consequences of imprisonment. Speaking to fathers, mothers, wives and children, the pope pointed them to Jesus Christ, who identified himself with the prisoner in his teaching on charity. Before giving his life, Christ was himself deprived of liberty without having committed any sin. He encouraged those families to turn to Christ to intercede for their loved ones behind bars.

Recognition for educators and prison staff

The pope closed by addressing the prison's staff and those who provide pastoral accompaniment to inmates. He said the work brings serious difficulties, among them the sense that the effort is not enough when violence, corruption and suffering seem entrenched. Faced with that risk of discouragement, Leo XIV said visiting prisoners is a work of mercy to which everyone is called, and that the responsibility is shared, not only that of those who work inside prison walls.