“Dear Pope
Francis,
I don't know if
you have ever been to where I live. I have grown up in a jungle of gangs and
drugs and violence. I have seen people killed. I have been hurt. We have been
victims of violence. It is hard to be young and surrounded by darkness.
Pray for me that
one day I will be free and be able to help other youth like you do.”
How many Young Offenders have written from prison to ask a Pope for
prayers, especially those who have life sentences which will, perhaps through
their own fault, deny them the normal joys and sorrows of growing up? Yet this
is exactly what a group of such youngsters in America did on hearing that, on
Maundy Thursday, instead of celebrating the Mass of the Lord’s Supper in St
Peter’s, Pope Francis would go to an institution like theirs, celebrate Mass
with young criminals just like them, wash and kiss their feet and, in that
simple gesture, show them that a new and entirely different lifestyle could be
theirs. Vatican Radio collected some of the letters:
“Dear Pope
Francis,
I have never been
to Rome. I do not know if it is near Los Angeles because all my youth I have
only known my neighbourhood. I hope one day I will be given a second chance and
receive a blessing from you and maybe even have my feet washed on Holy
Thursday.”
Dear Pope Francis,
I know you have a
good family. I am writing this letter to you because I know that my family is
suffering because of me. I know I have done some bad things but I am not a bad
kid and when last year in our big state we got a new law called SB9 this made
me [and my] family happy because this is a beautiful message that we kids
deserve a second chance.”
We all make mistakes and, for some of the inmates of the Young
Offenders institution, that is what they did: they saw no good examples as they
grew up and, in following ’the crowd’, ended up in court, charged with drug
abuse, peddling and violent crime. Some people will argue that there are those
who are ‘born evil’, but, looking at two newborn babies, there seems to be
little indication that one will become a great saint and the other a great
sinner. What makes the difference?
On Holy Thursday, Pope Francis showed his ability to meet people where
they are rather than where he would like them to be. Knowing that some of the
youth in the Casal del Marmo had no interest in religious matters, he broke
with tradition and, instead of giving them a holy picture to mark his visit,
gave an Easter egg. That gesture probably meant an enormous amount: the boys
and girls whom he visited would have tossed a picture onto the top of a
cupboard or a shelf or into a bin: they will cherish the memory of the Pope’s Easter
egg, for the rest of their lives. It will always be a symbol of hope, a new life
and of dreams for a future with happiness instead of sadness, frustration and
despair.
The Pope did not preach a long homily packed with theology and long
words. Instead he used very simple words, useful as his listeners probably
included a good number who were illiterate, words which recalled the advice of
St Francis of Assisi to “preach the Gospel at all times and occasionally use
words”. Actions speak louder than words.
"Washing feet means: 'I am at your service'. And with us too,
don’t we have to wash each other’s feet day after day? But what does this mean?
That all of us must help one another. Sometimes I am angry with someone or
other … but… let it go, let it go, and if he or she asks you a favour, do
it."
There can have been few hearts untouched when the Holy Father finished
his homily by saying:
"Now we will perform this ceremony of washing feet, and let us
think, let each one of us think: 'Am I really willing, willing to serve, to
help others?'. Let us think about this, just this. And let us think that this
sign is a caress of Jesus, which Jesus gives, because this is the real reason
why Jesus came: to serve, to help us."
Thus he washed the sometimes tattooed feet of ten young men and two
women, one of them a Muslim. A couple of years ago, when one of my Community
worked as a chaplain in Wandsworth Prison, she unthinkingly and accidentally
disobeyed regulations one day insofar as she rested her hand on the shoulder of
one inmate as she tried to negotiate her way through an untidy cell. To the
amazement of this Sister and of the other prisoners, the man burst into tears.
“This is the first time that anybody has ever touched me in love”, he wept.
Perhaps one or more of the Young Offenders was in a similar situation when the
Pope not only washed and dried, but also kissed and outstretched foot?
Yet for all that, one Catholic broadcasting network tied itself in
knots as it tried to explain “what Pope Francis was really saying”. Several
bloggers castigated him because “the Pope did not preach Catholic doctrine”. Oh
really? I thought that Jesus himself said that he “came to serve and to give
his life as a ransom for many”. Perhaps Jesus was not a Catholic? Well,
surprisingly, Jesus was not a Catholic: he lived and died as a Jew, but he did
set a precedent for those who followed after him.
Amazingly, having heard of the Pope’s visit to the Casal del Marmo on
Maundy Thursday, one young priest wrote, “How can I speak about such things -
the self-offering of Christ - when our Holy Father is witnessing to something
different? I feel like going up to the congregation and saying, 'I don't have
any idea what the symbolism of the washing of the feet is. Why don't we just
all do what we want?'" Another complained that it is sufficient that “St
John Bosco was allowed to take children on a daytrip of Youth Offenders and to
have them back, under lock and key by a certain time. Therefore, there was no
need for Pope Francis [to visit a] prison.”
I am reminded of the teenage boy Alessandro Serenelli, who murdered St
Maria Goretti on 6 July 1902 and was subsequently sentenced to 30 years of hard
labour. On his release, Serenelli joined a Capuchin Friary as a laybrother and
spent the next 24 years working in the garden and doing penance. He was present
at Maria’s canonisation. When he died, aged 80, on 6 May 1970, who is not to
say that Jesus – and Maria Goretti – welcomed him with open arms?
Likewise, there is every possibility that the visit of a Pope to a juvenile
detention facility, for some of its inmates, changed a life sentence into a
sentence for new life and hope for themselves and the rest of society.
