Pope Leo Meets with Prisoners Who Walked 60 Miles to Meet Him

Italian inmates trekked to Rome for the Jubilee — and were embraced by the American pope.

The three prisoners from Venice presented Pope Leo with a handmade chalice.

In a moving display of the corporal works of mercy (remember those from grade school?), Pope Leo recently welcomed three inmates from Venice’s Santa Maria Maggiore Prison who arrived in Rome as part of a Jubilee pilgrimage.

The men undertook a nearly 500-kilometer journey of faith, walking the final 100 kilometers from Terni to Rome.

Upon arrival, they passed through the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica before meeting Pope Leo in the Apostolic Palace.

This remarkable journey, made possible by a special prison leave, embodies hope and rehabilitation for those society often casts aside.

Pope Leo’s outreach continues the papal tradition of ministering to prisoners.

Pope Francis spent his final Holy Thursday visiting inmates at Regina Coeli prison in Rome, and in 2015, he met with prisoners in Philadelphia, urging prisons to focus on rehabilitation and forgiveness over punishment.

Throughout his pontificate, Francis regularly washed inmates’ feet and even opened a Holy Door at a prison, extending Jubilee grace behind bars.

By warmly welcoming these inmates, Pope Leo shows he is following in Francis’s footsteps.

Pope Francis visited a Philadelphia prison during his September 2015 visit to the United States.

This pilgrimage highlights a stark contrast between Italy’s rehabilitative approach and the punitive U.S. justice system.

Italian authorities granted the inmates an opportunity for a pilgrimage outside prison — a level of trust rarely seen in U.S. prisons. Italy abolished capital punishment and emphasizes second chances.

In 2018, Pope Francis revised Church teaching to declare the death penalty “inadmissible”, and he condemned life imprisonment as a “hidden death penalty” that robs offenders of hope.

In the United States, where life-without-parole and executions still exist, Pope Leo’s gesture is a reminder that justice can be centered on redemption rather than retribution.

Upon his election, some feared an American pope might be “MAGA-lite”, but Leo XIV has proven to be a social justice champion.

Pope Leo is following in the social justice footsteps of his predecessor and friend, Pope Francis.

He echoes Francis’s defense of migrants, even when confronting nationalist politics.

Undeterred, Pope Leo embraces Pope Francis’s legacy of social justice and mercy — showing a Gospel-centered leadership rooted in compassion, love, and dignity.

While the American president divides us, stories like today’s — of prisoners walking hundreds of kilometers for mercy, and of a pope meeting them with open arms — remind us that the gospel can still unite us, at home and around the globe, and stand as a bulwark against authoritarianism.

That’s why Letters from Leo exists: to bring you these moments of grace and courage, and to ensure they are not lost in the noise of our politics.

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I’ll see you on the road.