Hope behind the walls: Pope Leo XIV and the Jubilee of Prisoners
Monday, December 15, 2025
*Deacon Edgardo Farias
On the Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, Pope Leo XIV celebrated the Jubilee of Prisoners at St. Peter’s Basilica, placing the world of incarceration at the very center of the Holy Year. His homily was not merely a message of spiritual consolation, but it was a direct appeal to the consciences of the Church and societies shaped by punitive systems, particularly the United States.
The Pope reminded us that Christian joy is neither naïve nor superficial. Rather, it is the joy born of hope, not as empty optimism but as a firm anchor cast beyond the walls—beyond sin, crime, and human failure. In this sense, the Jubilee of Prisoners proclaims an essential Gospel truth: No one is beyond the reach of God’s mercy.
For the Church in the United States, this affirmation carries particular weight. Our country is home to one of the largest prison and detention systems in the world, with millions of people deprived of their freedom in jails, prisons, and immigration detention centers. Added to this reality is the especially grave situation of mass detentions and deportations, which affect entire families, separate parents from children, and deepen fear and vulnerability in already wounded communities. In this context, the Jubilee of Prisoners is an urgent call to reexamine pastoral practices, cultural attitudes and structures of justice, reminding us that human dignity does not depend on legal status or penal conditions.
Pope Leo XIV emphasized that the Jubilee invites us to open wide the doors of our hearts. This invitation is extended to those who are incarcerated as well as to those detained for immigration reasons, to those who accompany them, to Christian communities, and to those who administer justice. To open our hearts means rejecting a logic that reduces a person to a case file or an offense and reclaiming a Gospel anthropology that affirms that no human being is defined by what they have done or by the condition in which they find themselves.
One of the strongest themes of the homily was the affirmation that true justice is always a process of repair and reconciliation, not merely punishment. This vision challenges the deeply rooted punitive culture in American society, where prolonged incarceration, preventive detention, and accelerated deportation are often prioritized over genuine opportunities for accompaniment, guidance, and reintegration. The Pope recalled the biblical meaning of the Jubilee as a time of grace, liberation, and new beginnings. He expressed his desire to promote concrete measures to help people regain confidence in themselves and in society.
With deep pastoral realism, the Holy Father did not ignore the harsh conditions present in many detention and correctional facilities: overcrowding, legal uncertainty, the lack of stable educational and work programs, physical and emotional wounds, and the profound spiritual exhaustion caused by living in a state of constant waiting. Yet his exhortation was clear and firm: Do not grow weary. Do not retreat. Do not lose heart. Precisely where reality is hardest, fidelity to the Gospel becomes all the more necessary.
The Pope also acknowledged that, even amid suffering, human dignity continues to emerge behind the walls. Acts of solidarity, journeys of conversion, spiritual accompaniment, and deeply human encounters bear witness to the fact that God’s grace is still at work. This task, he emphasized, is not only for those who are incarcerated or detained, but also for those who represent justice and the state. They too are called to a path of interior conversion.
The heart of the homily was captured in a phrase that speaks directly to the Church in the United States:
“Let no one be lost. Let all be saved.”
This is God’s dream and the ultimate criterion of every authentically Christian prison and migrant ministry.
As Christmas approaches, Pope Leo XIV reminds us that the Lord is near, walking with His people, even those behind bars or in detention centers. With Him something new and joyful can always emerge. For the Church in the United States, the Jubilee of Prisoners is an invitation to renew its commitment to prison and migrant ministry. It calls on the Church to accompany families wounded by separation, to defend human dignity, and to be a prophetic voice in favor of systems of justice that are more humane, restorative, and open to hope.
The Jubilee of Prisoners ultimately reminds us that the credibility of the Gospel is also tested in our ability to tear down walls, open doors, and safeguard hope where fear and exclusion threaten to have the final word.
Comments from readers