Pope in Panama to visit young offenders in prison

Pope Francis will briefly break away from the clamor of the global Catholic youth gathering in Panama on Friday to visit a group of marginalized young people outside the capital.

A 30-minute helicopter ride will take him to the industrial hub of Pacora, where he will visit young offenders at a youth detention center and hear their confessions, including one serving time for murder.

The Las Garzas detention center houses 192 young offenders and it was here that some 30 of them made the wooden confession boxes being used at the Garden of Forgiveness in Panama as part of the World Youth Day celebrations, which brought the pope here.

"I will tell him that I painted it with a lot of tenderness and especially for him. I'm proud that he is coming to this place to spread his message," one young inmate at the center, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) outside Panama City, told AFP in November.

Later in the afternoon, the pope will accompany young people at a Stations of the Cross ceremony in a Panama park overlooking the Pacific.