Wow Prisoners Build 150 Confessionals for World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, with Pope Francis this August!

 
World Youth Day (WYD) organizers employed prisoners from the jail of Paços de Ferreira, Porto and Coimbra, to build the 150 confessionals for World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal 2023.

The confessionals will be in the Forgiveness Park which will be in operation from August 1st to 4th, 2023, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

With a team of six or seven inmates, the confessionals have been built and are almost all ready. In Paços de Ferreira there is a wing dedicated to carpentry.

Fernando Pinto Correia painted the details of the rosary that give colour to the outside of the confessionals. Fernando is one of the inmates entirely dedicated to this project. "This here relieves my head more," he says. Despite his apparent happiness with the visit, Fernando Correia does not forget what happened, and revealed to us that "outside this is what I have been working on since I was a child" and that, therefore, "time passes better here working".
Fernando Correia paints in the "estufa", a kiln that helps the paint dry and eliminate toxicities“
Fernando Pinto Correia, the inmate confessed that "I have always been catholic" and that, just like "outside", "here I also go to mass". When asked about the presence of Pope Francis in Portugal, Fernando believes that "for us it is good, he helps us a bit more".
Although everything is running "at cruising speed", José António da Silveira, director of the Paços de Ferreira Prison, told that "the process has had some setbacks", much due to the rotation of team members, as "some have been leaving, fortunately. They were released", which always requires a constant readaptation.
However, and with the construction process almost finished, José highlights the importance of this type of project, especially this one, "with a global dimension", which also brings prison establishments closer to the outside world. "It is a way for us to show the community, society, that good things are done here", he highlights.
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On the way to Oporto, the testimonies heard and the feelings observed within those walls remain in our memory. When we reach another building, less isolated but with the same barbed wire, we are directed to a garage in the courtyard, where all the already cut and painted wood is piled up, which will give "life" to the confessionals of WYD Lisbon 2023.
The inmates used a plate, made with the wood from the confessionals, to   be placed on all the benches made by the Prison Facility of Porto, leaving the mark of the six inmates who worked on this project.
Manuel Dias is the name of the inmate who was responsible for varnishing the wood. About the process of building the confessionals, Manuel believes that "it has been going well", adding immediately afterwards that "I kind of like doing this". In conversation, he revealed that what he is doing now was "the art" he used to do "out there" and that "it will be good" for young people from all over the world to see his work at WYD Lisbon 2023. However, he confessed that "it's a shame I can't be there to see it".
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Paulo Teixeira, or "Mr. Teixeira", as he is known in the prison, is the one who supervises the daily work and was the one who chose the six inmates working in the construction of the confessionals for WYD Lisbon 2023. With only the painting still to be done, Paulo reveals that this is "a different challenge", because "for us, as an establishment, it is a bit complicated to maintain or to have deadlines to meet", given the life and dynamics of a prison.

In addition to the confessionals requested by the WYD Lisbon 2023 Foundation, the Prison Facility of Porto made one to be able to stay there and serve as a confessional for all prisoners who wish to confess during their period of deprivation of liberty.
From Oporto we went to Coimbra, where we were directed to a kind of workshop. We walked down a narrow corridor until we reached the centre of a dome where the confessional benches were already packed. Around it were the various "workshops" and occupations of the Coimbra Prison inmates, among paintings, tiles, bicycles and motorbikes made of wood.

Pedro Silva was one of the "boys" who worked on the construction of the confessionals and he sees painting as "a relief for stress and in everyday life". 
For me it was a pride to be able to participate in this project and to feel that part of me is with World Youth Day.
With his release scheduled for 10 June, Pedro wants to be at WYD Lisbon 2023. When asked about his desire to participate in the meeting, Pedro Silva promptly replies: "It was me, who had already spoken to Mr. Nelson about 10 days ago saying that I would like to participate in WYD".
Pedro Silva also left a message to the young people, assuring them that "what they cannot lose is love, hope and freedom". As for the contact of young people from all over the world with the confessionals, Pedro hopes "that they enjoy, that they admire the work that has been done" and stresses that "on my part, I put my effort, love and dedication".
Paulo Domingues, who accompanied the construction of the confessionals and also the visit, revealed that the whole process "was fantastic" and that this initiative "was as if society had embraced them" and a way of "being closer to them", he referred.
In all the prisons WYD organizers visited, it is the inmates who restore the common goods "from home", also accepting various projects and jobs that allow them to earn extra money and occupy their time. The confessionals for WYD Lisbon 2023 are also a service paid to the inmates and that, in some way, contribute to their reintegration into society.

Source: JMJ Lisboa - www.lisboa2023.org