PRESS RELEASE
VATICAN CITY, DEC 5 - St Peter's Basilica is preparing for the Jubilee with the launch of two new social promotion projects, aimed at refugees and prisoners: the "Rosaries of the Sea", in collaboration with the Casa dello Spirito e delle Arti Foundation, and a programme for the re-employment of prisoners, in collaboration with the Second Chance Association.
The 'Rosaries of the Sea' project, which started in September 2023, employs refugees in the production of rosaries to be purchased by pilgrims coming to St Peter's Basilica. The material used for the rosaries, otherwise destined for disposal, is wood from the boats of migrants who have crossed the Mediterranean to reach Italian shores in search of salvation. The rosaries are completed and assembled at the Fabbrica di San Pietro by two refugee people, hired by the social cooperative Casa dello Spirito e delle Arti, and are delivered to the shops of St. Peter's Basilica. The previous stages of the work take place in some prison institutes in Milan, Monza and Rome. At Milano Opera, two people disassemble the boats and prepare the wood for the different parts that will make up the rosary. Crosses are made at the Casa Circondariale di Monza and the Rebibbia Prison. A small part of the work is also carried out by homeless people at the Opera Cardinal Ferrari in Milan. The first rosary produced was donated to the Holy Father. The proceeds from the sale of the rosaries support refugees and prisoners.
The 'Seconda Chance' project promotes the reintegration of prisoners into society through work. Thanks to the collaboration with the Associazione Seconda Chance, an inmate from Rebibbia Nuovo Complesso has already been employed for some months as an electrician in the ordinary maintenance activities of the Basilica, coordinated by the Fabbrica di San Pietro. After recent interviews in the Roman prisons of Rebibbia and Regina Coeli, other figures are being selected.
Again in collaboration with the association Seconda Chance, the Fabbrica di San Pietro has also joined the Mammagialla Sailin' project, underway at the Mammagialla Prison in Viterbo, where a high-level tailoring shop is being set up, in which inmates tailors use disused sails and new fabrics to produce customised duffel bags for sports clubs, public bodies and companies. The Fabbrica di San Pietro has in fact asked the inmates tailors in Viterbo for duffel bags to offer to visitors in the Basilica's shops.
Casa dello Spirito e delle Arti Foundation
The Casa dello Spirito e delle Arti Foundation, chaired by Arnoldo Mosca Mondadori and Marisa Baldoni, is engaged in organisational activities dedicated to social projects, with the aim of enabling the expression of talents and the recovery of the dignity of each person. A network of artists and personalities engaged in the world of culture collaborate in the Foundation's activities, 'with the desire to realise, within the Catholic Church and at its service, that collaboration and harmony desired by the Second Vatican Council between priests and laity, to witness together to Christ the Light of the world'.The Foundation's projects are conducted in cooperation with Centro Astalli, the Milan Opera prison, the Monza prison, the Rebibbia prison and the Secondigliano prison.Other projects include 'Il senso del Pane' (The Sense of Bread), with workshops for the production of wafers in which people in a state of great fragility are employed, in Italy and around the world.
Seconda Chance Association
Seconda Chance, founded and chaired by Italian journalist Flavia Filippi, is a non-profit association of the Third Sector, established in Italy in 2022 to help the professional reintegration of prisoners and ex-prisoners. The Seconda Chance project, which also draws its strength from a cooperation protocol with the Department of Prison Administration, in Italy allows entrepreneurs to obtain a tax credit of up to EUR 6,000 per year (Smuraglia law) and to reintegrate deserving inmates into society and in the appropriate legal status for daytime work outside. The association, based in Rome, currently has a network of volunteers and representatives in various regions of Italy: in addition to Lazio, Liguria, Veneto, Tuscany, Marche, Campania and Calabria.To date, 230 job opportunities have been provided to inmates and former inmates, with the number of those employed steadily increasing.Institutional
Communication Office Basilica and Fabbrica di San Pietro.
comunicazioneistituzionale@fsp.va
Roberta Leone (manager) +393931198745
Beatrice Offidani (collaborator) +39346142503
