Acta Benedicti Pp. XVI 1027

sons, commitment to the rehabilitation of prisoners, fostering a genuinely

educational community: these things are all the more urgent, in view of

the growing number of ''foreign prisoners'', whose circumstances are often

difficult and precarious. Clearly, it is essential that the role of prison institu-

tions and staff be matched by a corresponding willingness on the part of the

prisoner to undergo a period of formation. Yet it is not enough simply to wait

and hope for a positive response: this should be solicited and encouraged by

means of initiatives and programmes capable of overcoming idleness and

breaking the isolation in which prisoners are often trapped. Particularly

important in this regard is the promotion of forms of evangelization and

spiritual care, capable of drawing out the most noble and profound side of

the prisoner, awakening his enthusiasm for life and his desire for beauty, so

characteristic of people who discover anew that they bear within them the

indelible image of God.

Where there is confidence in the possibility of renewal, prison can perform

its re-educational function and become the occasion for the offender to taste

the redemption won by Christ through the Paschal Mystery, which guaran-

tees victory over all evil.

Dear friends, I thank you sincerely for this meeting and for all that you

do, and I invoke upon you and your work abundant divine blessings.

V

Ad XXIII Universalem Conventum Apostolatus Maris.*

Venerati Fratelli,

cari fratelli e sorelle!

Vi accolgo con gioia, al termine dei lavori del XXIII Congresso Mondiale

dell'Apostolato del Mare. Saluto cordialmente il Cardinale Antonio Maria

Vegliò, Presidente del Pontificio Consiglio della Pastorale per i Migranti e

gli Itineranti, grato per le sue cortesi parole, come pure i collaboratori del

Dicastero e quanti operate in questo specifico settore. Avete vissuto giornate

intense di approfondimento su temi importanti, come l'annuncio del Vangelo

* Die 23 Novembris 2012.