The day after apologizing to indigenous people for the church’s colonial-era atrocities, Pope Francis on Friday stepped into one of Latin America’s most violent prisons and urged inmates not to despair.
Wrapping up his visit to Bolivia, the second of this three-nation South American pilgrimage, the pope prayed with prisoners in the Bolivian lowland city of Santa Cruz. He was scheduled to depart for Paraguay later in the day.
The notorious Palmasola prison holds murderers, drug traffickers, gangs and other brutal criminals. Like most jails in Latin America, many of those inside have never been convicted of anything; many inmates live along with their families.