As part of his visit to Panama for World Youth Day 2019, His Holiness Pope Francis celebrated a penitential liturgy in Panama’s primary juvenile detention centre, the Las Garzas de Pacora centre on 25 January.
The Pope also heard the confessions of the inmates inside confessionals made by detainees.
During his homily, Pope Francis preached that society tends to label people good and bad, the righteous and the sinners, when it should spend its time creating opportunities for them to change.
The Pope said: “This attitude spoils everything, because it erects an invisible wall that makes people think that if we marginalise, separate, and isolate others, all our problems will magically be solved.”
Pope Francis visited Ireland as part of the celebrations for the IX World Meeting of Families during August 2018.
At the end of his visit to Panama, Pope Francis announced that the next World Youth Day will take place in Lisbon in 2022.
ENDS