Pope Francis paid a surprise visit yesterday to homeless people living in a shanty town on the outskirts of Rome.
He was on his way to pay a pastoral visit to a parish in Pietralata, north-east of Rome, when his entourage arrived at the Arcobaleno di Ponte Mammolo site.
The site is home to displaced people from Africa and Latin America, Ukraine and Russia.
Residents came running as the Pope stepped through a wooden door into the camp accompanied by a priest, who said to them: “Look at the surprise we’ve brought for you!”
Dozens quickly gathered around him, calling out “Viva Papa” and bowing their heads to receive a blessing. Speaking mainly in Spanish, he led them in the Our Father and prayed a blessing over them. “I pray for you every day. Pray for me,” he told them.
As archbishop of Buenos Aires, the then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio would regularly visit communities living in the favelas.
Loading ...
