WYD Panama: Pope Francis’ “Mercy
Friday”
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| Pope Francis visits young detainees in Panama.(Vatican Media) |
The ad interim Director of the Vatican Press Office says the
Pope wanted his visit to the Juvenile Detention Centre to be an expression of
God’s mercy towards everyone.
By Seàn-Patrick Lovett
Alessandro Gisotti, the ad interim Director of
the Vatican Press Office, was beside Pope Francis on Friday when he
visited the Juvenile Detention Centre outside Panama City. Speaking to Vatican
News, Gisotti describes the visit as a kind of “Mercy Friday”: the discreet
gestures the Pope occasionally makes in Rome to groups of marginalised or needy
individuals or groups.
A message of mercy
“I had the opportunity to speak to the Holy Father after
this very moving and touching visit for all of us, and for the Holy Father
too”, says Gisotti, “and he told me that the most important message he
wanted to deliver, and to witness to, with this visit was precisely the mercy of
God. He told me that he wanted to underline the mercy of God for everyone who
needs that mercy, not only these young people who face such a difficult
situation. So this was, and this is, the message of this day and this visit”.
What we didn’t see
At first there was to be no video or audio coverage at all
of Pope Francis’ visit to the Juvenile Detention Centre. The detainees are
minors and, as such, their identities are protected by law. In the end, images
of the visit were made available, but the faces of the young people were not.
Gisotti says it was the sight of these faces, the faces of
young people deprived of their liberty, that moved him most deeply. He was
touched by their smiles, in particular: “Their smiles, when the Holy Father
embraced them, were like a wonderful ray of light, a ray of hope. Not only for
them, but for me too and for all the people who were there. The Holy Father
managed to give them this feeling of being loved by a father”.
Personal impressions
Alessandro Gisotti recalls the first World Youth Day he
attended in the year 2000, and reflects on how different it is for him to be
here in Panama as ad interim Director of the Vatican Press Office today. “This
WYD is different because it’s unbelievable to be the Vatican Spokesman”, he
says. “Everyone knows this was totally unexpected, this call of duty for me.
Unfortunately I didn’t have much time to prepare in the way I would like. But
it is unbelievable to be alongside the Holy Father, to see his eyes, his
expressions when he listens to the young people, and to understand how
important it is for him to be here, even if we know we have another very
important journey to the United Arab Emirates in a few days. But the Holy
Father wants to show that he is with the People of God”.
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