The Church in Honduras organised the National Pastoral Congress with the theme "Personal and Pastoral Conversion for Communion" in which about 100 people participated, including bishops, priests, religious and lay people.
During the Congress, the participants appealed in the wake of the deaths of 46 women in Tamara prison, condemned the violence and requested the facts to be investigated in order to improve the prison system while respecting people’s dignity.
For his part, Pope Francis during the Angelus on Sunday, June 25, also mourned the tragedy and asked for prayers in this regard.
"I was very saddened by what happened a few days ago in the women’s Penitentiary Centre of Támara in Honduras. Terrible violence between rival gangs caused death and suffering", said the Holy Father.
In this spirit, Pope Francis added: “I pray for the deceased; I pray for their families. May the Virgin of Suyapa, Mother of Honduras, help hearts to open to reconciliation and to create space for fraternal co-existence, even within prisons.”
Afterward, the Bishops' Conference of Honduras (CEH) joined Pope Francis and, through an official statement, lamented the tragedy, expressed fraternal closeness to the loved ones of the deceased and encouraged them to pray without becoming weary to the God of life, so that He might grant reconciliation and fraternal coexistence.