PA/NBC NewsA 19th century Vatican palace has been turned into a homeless shelter by Pope Francis.
The beautiful building named the Palazzo Migliori sits just off the famous St Peter’s Square and is located next door to the Vatican.
Previously used as a refuge for young, single mothers for 70 years, Pope Francis decided to open it to the homeless after the women’s refuge moved to a different location.
Dubbed ‘A Palace for the Poor’ – the palace was blessed by the Pope on Friday, January 31, just ahead of World Day of the Poor.
NBC NewsVatican News reported that Pope Francis personally directed his Almoner, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, to turn it into a place where the homeless and poor of Rome can ‘sleep, eat, and learn’.
The four-story Palazzo Migliori was acquired by the Vatican in the 1930s and still carries the name of the Roman family who built it in the 1800s.
Cardinal Krajewski has said the upper two floors of the building will be used for dormitories where approximately 50 men and women can sleep, while the lower two floors will be used for volunteers to teach people how to use a computer.
PA imagesThere will also be additional space for reading, recreation, and psychological counselling.
After encouragement from the Vatican, the construction company behind the palace’s renovation hired a group of homeless people to help and were so impressed by their work went on to hire them full time.
In 2016, the Pope has invited homeless people into the Vatican for a mass just for them where he criticised the world’s treatment of the poorest in society.
PexelsAccording to the MailOnline, during the mass Pope Francis said:
It is ominous that we are growing used to this rejection. We should be worried when our consciences are anaesthetised and we no longer see the brother or sister suffering at our side, or notice the grave problems in the world, which become a mere refrain familiar from the headlines on the evening news.
This is the origin of the tragic contradiction of our age: as progress and new possibilities increase, which is a good thing, fewer and fewer people are able to benefit from them.
There is no peace in the homes of the prosperous as long as justice is lacking in the home of everyone.
Last year, it was estimated there were 320,000 homeless people in the UK alone so, whether you’re religious or not, the Pope has a point that more needs to be done to help those in need.
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Niamh Shackleton is a pint sized person and journalist at UNILAD. After studying Multimedia Journalism at the University of Salford, she did a year at Caters News Agency as a features writer in Birmingham before deciding that Manchester is (arguably) one of the best places in the world, and therefore moved back up north. She’s also UNILAD’s unofficial crazy animal lady.