Pope Francis visits Venice in first trip outside of Rome in seven months
CBSN
Pope Francis made his first trip out of Rome in seven months on Sunday with a visit to Venice that included an art exhibition, a stop at a prison and a Mass.
Venice has always been a place of contrasts, of breathtaking beauty and devastating fragility, where history, religion, art and nature have collided over the centuries to produce an otherworldly gem of a city. But even for a place that prides itself on its culture of unusual encounters, Francis' visit on Sunday stood out.
Francis traveled to the lagoon city to visit the Holy See's pavilion at the Biennale contemporary art show and meet with the people who created it. But because the Vatican decided to mount its exhibit in Venice's women's prison, and invited inmates to collaborate with the artists, the whole project assumed a far more complex meaning, touching on Francis' belief in the power of art to uplift and unite, and of the need to give hope and solidarity to society's most marginalized.
A manhunt was underway in France on Tuesday after two prison officers were killed and three others injured in an attack on a van that was carrying a convict who managed to escape amid the carnage. In a statement to reporters, French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said the convoy was transporting a prisoner from a courthouse to a prison in the northern city of Rouen when it was attacked by assailants armed with "heavy weapons."