Stations of the Cross held at jail where John Paul II forgave Ali Agca

Rome, Italy, Apr 6, 2009 / 11:06 am

As part of its Lenten program, “A Lent of Charity,” the Caritas office in the Diocese of Rome held the Stations of the Cross on April 3 for prisoners at the Rebebbia Jail, the place where John Paul II met with Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who tried to kill him in 1981.
 
The stations were led by the Papal Vicar for the Diocese of Rome, Cardinal Agostino Vallini, and organized by the Caritas office in Rome and prison employees.  “The encounter with the prison population during Lent,” explained Msgr. Guerino Di Tora, Director of Caritas Rome, “is a way of drawing close to a world that is marked by loneliness more than any other.”
 
We prayed “with our imprisoned brethren in order to be together and to thus prepare ourselves for Easter, confirming the closeness of the Church in Rome, which carries out many activities” with the help of hundreds of volunteers, Msgr. Di Tora said.