These rosaries have a special meaning. They are not made of just any wood, but that of ships wrecked on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa. And even Pope Francis has his own.
POPE FRANCIS
I have in my hands one of the rosaries you make. You make it with the wood of the boats of the migrants. Boats that come full of hope for the desire to get out of so many calamities and also boats that have left so many at sea.
ARNOLDO MOSCA
President, "Casa del Espíritu y de las Artes" Foundation
The first rosary I made from the ships coming into the prison was for the Pope and he said he had it on his bedside table. So we thought, "Why not make lots and lots of them?"
The rosary crosses are made by inmates from various Italian prisons. Then, all the pieces are put together by two refugees in the The School of Arts and Crafts of the Fabric of Saint Peter. The rosaries hold a unique link to their own lives.
ARNOLDO MOSCA
President, "Casa del Espíritu y de las Artes" Foundation
What strikes me most about this story of the rosaries is that they are prepared, in part, in prison: the crosses, everything. All the pieces that make it up. And some of them are assembled right in the Vatican by two refugees. Two people who have made the journey and found their boat then reassembled it into an object for prayer.
This is one of the social initiatives presented at the Vatican in preparation for the Jubilee of 2025. It was made by the president of the "House of the Spirit and the Arts" Foundation. The money raised from the sale of these rosaries will go to support refugees and prisoners.
CA
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