Comment on Inmates at Panama youth prison anticipate visit from pope

LAS GARZAS, Panama — More than 100,000 young people are expected to show up in Panama City when Pope Francis visits from Jan. 23-27 for World Youth Day. At a detention center about 25 miles (40 kilometers) away there are 144 more who can’t make the trip, locked up for serious crimes including murder — so the pontiff is going to them. In an encounter expected to last a little over an hour on Friday, Francis will pray and bring a message of peace and reconciliation to the young inmates, and hear the confessions of several, including one convicted of committing a double homicide at just 16 years old. “The pope is going to listen to them, encourage them,” Panama Archbishop Jose Domingo Ulloa said.