To the personal web site of the Catholic Chaplain in Poggioreale
Jail in Naples, Fr. Oliviero Bruno of the Archdiocese of Naples, Italy,
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To the personal web site of the Catholic Chaplain in Poggioreale
Jail in Naples, Fr. Oliviero Bruno of the Archdiocese of Naples, Italy,
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“But now, in union with Jesus Christ you, who used to to be far away, have been brought near by the sacrificial death of Christ. For Christ himself has brought us peace by making Jews and Gentiles one people. With his own body he broke down the wall tha separeted them and kept them enemies,.."(Eph.c.2,13-14).
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Every time some crime is committed... we expect from the Government that the “Justice must be done!” We demand the “Certainty of Punishment”. Of course victims of crimes are in the first place in our mind, in our consideration and solidarity. Victims of crime that take the risk, sometimes, to see their lives irremediably destroyed, because of sufferings and traumas. That is why our first concern is about prevention. What the Government does in order to defend people from those who commits crimes? For the time being, prevention is all about intimidation… and neutralization . Prison is seen as the right punishment for the crimes committed… The fight against the “evil represented by the crimes” is carried out with “the evil represented by the prison ”. The Idea of Justice is symbolized by the “scales”. We are used to see in courts, the woman with the “Scales of Justice” in her hand ... meaning : “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth… The famous law of retaliation!) “If they are in prison they must have done something horrible”, You can hear of... “They get in and get out, everything you could do in order to rehabilitate criminals is useless!. There are no hope for them! They are irremediably lost! Now : Can Christian People think this way? I’ve come into the world to seek and save those who were lost! (Jesus) Jesus Christ the Founder of Christian Faith was arrested, put behind bars, He was found guilty by the Sanhedrin, tortured and sentenced to death by the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate. According to the Gospel of saint Luke, the very first person who entered the Kingdom of Heaven was a Criminal: “One of the criminal hanging there hurled insults at him: are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us as well’ But the other spoke up and rebuked him. ‘have you not fear of God at all? He said. You got the same sentence as he did, but in our case we deserved it: we are paying for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said: ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom. He answered him: In truth I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” ( Luke 23, 39-43) Jesus is convinced that criminals, tax collectors and prostitutes will enter the Paradise before those who believe to be saints: “ So Jesus said to them, I tell you: the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the Kingdom of God ahead of you…” (Mt. 21,31c) What do you think : Aren’t these enough reasons for a Christian to think a little bit more about Criminal Justice?
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Fr. Oliviero Bruno, Via Farina, 1 80055 Portici - Naples - Italy. e-mail:
padrebruno@solidarity-mission.it
The whole website and its content is made, - unless it is clearly identified the Author - by Fr.Bruno Oliviero
