The door, as a concrete and symbolic space, encourages encounter, communication between the prison and outside life, and the transition from despair to hope. This is the path taken by the Pontifical Foundation Gravissimum Educationis of the Dicastery for Culture and Education. The ‘Doors of Hope’ project, promoted by the Foundation, will create artistic “doors”, monuments that will be placed at the entrances of prisons as a visible sign to citizens of a possible relationship between society and prisons. “It is in the spirit of the Jubilee and the vision of Pope Leo XIV, as we will see in the apostolic exhortation Dilexi te,” said Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, Prefect of the Dicastery, ‘that the desire to continue opening doors, opening gestures, and awareness that can give substance to a true and necessary pedagogy of hope is manifested”.

The Cross as a gateway

Davide Rampello, curator of the project, together with his studio, explained that the doors will be made using the three materials of the Cross of Christ: wood, metal and stone. The cities and personalities involved in the initiative are Venice, with director Mario Martone, Milan, with designer Michele De Lucchi, Rome, with painter and sculptor Gianni Dessì, Naples, with artist Mimmo Palladino, Palermo, with chef Massimo Bottura, Lecce, with designer Fabio Novembre, Reggio Calabria with astrophysicist Ersilia Vaudo, and Brescia with architect Stefano Boeri. The dialogue between these figures from the world of culture and the prison community will give rise to artistic creations, thanks to a kind of “Renaissance workshop” that the project will make available, with the support of the Cariplo Foundation, represented by its president Giovanni Azzone. The Portuguese Minister of Justice, Rita Júdice, also participated in the conference remotely. In Portugal, two artistic residencies will be set up in the juvenile prisons of Leiria and Tires. The minister stressed the importance of art in preparing prisoners for a new life, because every prison aims to rehabilitate prisoners and integrate them into the world of work.

When suffering becomes expression

Doors of Hope enjoys the indispensable collaboration of the Department of Prison Administration of the Ministry of Justice of the Italian Republic, headed by Stefano Carmine De Michele, who observes: “Doors of Hope is much more than an artistic initiative for us, it is a journey. A journey that symbolically crosses the prison walls, opening them to the light of dialogue, listening, beauty and, above all, respect for human dignity.” In fact, the purpose of imprisonment is social reintegration, as required by the Italian Constitution, and not just the enforcement of punishment. According to De Michele, by talking and collaborating with artists, people in prison will be able to “rework their prison experience in a positive way, give shape to their inner experiences and thus transform suffering into expression.” The contact between prison and society will therefore be “a threshold between the past and the possible, between error and change, between isolation and return to the community”.

The possibility of an encounter

Monsignor Davide Milani, secretary general of the Pontifical Foundation Gravissimum Educationis, recalled that the etymology of the word ‘door’ which refers to the concept of ‘a passage’, and is the basis of the term ‘harbour’, which evokes dynamism rather than immobility. “The door,” notes Monsignor Milani, “is a tool for safeguarding what deserves to be preserved, a home, an office, a school, a hospital, a church, and yet invites, in determined conditions, to be crossed, to arrive at living, adequately transformed, in a relationship. The crossing, just as occurs with pilgrims during the Jubilee, is an invitation to change, that reminds us of John's Gospel: ‘I am the gate: whoever enters through me will be saved; they will come in and go out and find pasture’ (John 10:9).

A willingness to listen

Gianni Dessì, the artist who will be responsible for creating the door in the Regina Coeli prison in Rome, feels the burden of responsibility for such an important task: ‘It requires a sign that has a profound meaning, and I believe this will lead me above all to listen’. Meetings with people in prisons will be fundamental in defining the path and enriching the content because, he warns, ‘art may be poor, but it must not be miserable,’ and the living relationship that will arise from the encounter will provide the main substance for the artistic work. For Enrico Farina, director of the Santa Maggiore prison in Venice, which is involved in the project, thanks to the metaphor of the door, prisoners will be able to “look beyond the shadows”.