ROME (AP) — Pope Francis inaugurated his Holy Year at Rome’s main prison on Thursday, bringing a message of hope to inmates and involving them in the Catholic Church’s once every quarter-century celebration that is expected to bring about 32 million pilgrims to Rome.

Marking the Holy Year of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis opened a Holy Door at a prison in Rome on Thursday, offering a message of hope and forgiveness to inmates. "Do not lose hope, that is the message I want to give you,

Wearing red vestments for the feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, Pope Francis knocked on the door of the church in Rome's Rebibbia prison complex and walked over its threshold.