Pope directs: ‘Give the needy access to closed monasteries’

MONKS AND?NUNS have been ordered by Pope Francis to throw open empty monasteries and convents to migrants and the poor.

In a letter to members of religious orders at the opening of the Year of Consecrated Life Francis said he expects them to offer “concrete” help to refugees and the needy including the “repurposing” of empty buildings for accommodation.

Consecrated men and women should “examine their presence in church life and how they respond to the new demands constantly being made on us, to the cry of the poor”, he said.

He recalled how the founders of their orders had been moved to put themselves at the service of humanity by healing the sick, giving bread to the hungry or offering kind words and comfort.

He said: “I want you to offer concrete gestures of welcome to refugees, draw near to the poor, and find creative ways to catechise, to proclaim the Gospel and to teach others how to pray. Consequently, I would hope that structures can be streamlined, large religious houses repurposed for works which better respond to the present demands of evangelisation and charity, and missions adjusted to new needs.”

Meanwhile, a group of refugees evicted from Francis’ “favourite” church, the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, said that they had been reduced to squatting. The group of around 50 families, mostly migrants from North Africa and Eastern Europe, took refuge in the basilica in June asking the Vatican for asylum and stayed there for two weeks before they were forced to leave.

Rashid Belbiar from Morocco told The Tablet: “We are all split up – we are living in different occupied buildings all over Rome now.”