Patriarch of Venice: Mercy at the heart of the Pope's visit

By Benedetta Capelli

The Lagoon City of Venice is ready to welcome Pope Francis on Sunday, April 28, for his one-day visit with the motto "Remaining united in the love of Christ."

The Pope will depart, by helicopter, from the Vatican at 6:30 am and is scheduled to land at about 8 am in the Square in front of the Giudecca Women’s Prison Facility which houses about 80 inmates. In the prison’s inner courtyard, he will meet with the inmates, deliver an address and listen to some of their stories.

As the Patriarch of Venice, Archbishop Francesco Moraglia notes in this interview by Vatican News, the Holy Father’s meeting with women who are suffering is characteristic of his style and sets the tone for a visit undertaken in the spirit of mercy.

What does Pope Francis' presence mean for your diocese and how do you interpret the choice of the Giudecca prison as the first stop of his visit?

Having the Pope in this place, and especially having chosen it as the first stop of his visit to the entire Church of Venice, is an important signal. It asks the city and those who may be “resistant” to setting their gaze on this place of expiation and pain, to strive to make it increasingly one of redemption, of human and spiritual growth for the guests who are present here. Being a prison and not a penitentiary, the guests have long stays and in a way makes things, on one hand, simpler because it leads to a certain familiarity, on the other more difficult because having to stay in a restricted perimeter for a long time can become problematic. I thank the Holy Father for his choice and for his intuition.  I believe that from now on this prison will always remain, not only for those who have had this experience of the Pope's visit, but also among prisons, a light, a way of understanding justice with mercy and wanting to bet on people who have certainly made mistakes.

The Giudecca is not only a place of confinement but, since the beginning of the 60th edition of the International Venice Biennale, it has been dedicated to the theme of “the stranger” and is a place that hosts works of art born from the encounter between the inmates and artists…

So, there is a significant presence of non-Italian guests in the prisons, and here too many foreigners find themselves living in this place of expiation and suffering. At the same time, the way we see things is our calling card, it’s how we present ourselves, usually to others but particularly to those who are strangers because we have not yet met them, and we meet them for the first time. Focusing on this theme – because the Gospel says that the eyes are the mirror of the soul – I believe it is the key that can truly help us to grow in a very difficult context for harmony between peoples and individuals, particularly thinking about war. So, we have art, justice, and mercy held together by how we look at them.

A view inside the Pavilion

Is there a particular artwork that struck you in the Holy See Pavilion that is entitled "With My Eyes"?

Yes, the artwork at the entrance (created by the Brazilian artist Sonia Gomes). The clothes, the garments worn by the women hanging from above reach the ground but remain suspended. It seems to me a beautiful image of man and woman who are the custodians of humanity. These well-worn clothes, which bear the signs of daily struggle and are suspended between heaven and earth, are a beautiful image of humanity.

A sign reads "We are with you in the night" at the Holy See Pavilion in the Giudecca Prison