Young Inmates Eager for Holy Thursday Mass With Francis [Majority Muslim]

Zenit News Agency ^ | 3/25/13 | H. Sergio Mora

[marshmallow]

Prison Chaplain on Upcoming Papal Mass at Rome Prison

On Holy Thursday, Pope Francis will celebrate Mass in the Casal de Marmo, a juvenile detention center on the outskirts of Rome.

ZENIT interviewed a chaplain at the prison, Father Gaetano Geco, who described interesting aspects of his work with minors.

Father Gaetano belongs to the Franciscan Family of Capuchin Terciaries of the Virgin of Sorrows, a spiritual family founded by Monsignor Luis Amigo of Valencia, Spain.

Although he is from San Giovanni Retondo, the area of Padre Pio, the chaplain chose the order because he fell in love with their apostolate: the re-education of young people. He studied in the seminary and did his novitiate in Albacete, Spain, and was ordained a priest in Rome. He worked in Cerdena for several years in a house of rehabilitation. Since 1981 he has been chaplain in the prison for minors of Casal de Marmo. It is a prison in the true sense of the word.

ZENIT: These inmates were already visited by Benedict XVI, no?

Father Gaetano: Benedict XVI celebrated Mass here in 2007; it was an extraordinary experience. The youths saw him up close. Benedict was moved; you could see it in his eyes as he shook their hands. It was a spring day full of light and we prepared for the visit for a whole month.

ZENIT: And now Francis ...

Father Gaetano: Now Pope Francis is coming to meet us; this is exciting everyone. The young people are awaiting the Pope. He is going to celebrate Mass as he did in Buenos Aires in a place of suffering, of the poor. If we were able to go to the essence of the Gospel with less formalities it would be wonderful. I have spent much time in the prison reading the Gospel...

[marshmallow]

There are 48 in total divided in a group of nine women and two groups of men. The majority of young people in the juvenile prison are of the Muslim religion. The other group -- the minority of Italians as well as the Orthodox -- when they learned that the Pope was coming to Casal de Marmo on Maundy Thursday all realized that it was important.

Interesting....

[UCANSEE2]

Interesting....

....to say the least.

This Pope is proving something to the world which they have lost sight of. It is not the religion, it is the man. It is about what he does with his 'free will'.

IMHO, that is really what the Bible is all about.

[Mrs. Don-o]

The man's Evangelical.

You can quote me.