Santiago, Chile, Jan 13, 2018 / 04:00 am
As Pope Francis prepares to visit Chile next week, the inmates at San Joaquin Women's Penitentiary Center in Santiago are cleaning, decorating, and preparing for what they believe is a providential papal visit.
The Pope will visit the prison on Jan. 16, making a 40-minute stop to meet with the women there.
Ever since the Holy Father's visit was confirmed, the 620 women incarcerated in the prison – serving sentences for drug trafficking, homicide, robbery or other crimes – have been planning for the encounter.
"People are suffering here, there's a lot of pain, and that the Pope would come and remember us means that God has remembered us," said inmate Nelly Dominguez. "I believe it's the providence of God, nothing less."