Posted on 11/15/2014 8:58:31 AM PST by RnMomof7
In his latest bid to ease the suffering of the poor — and upend the expectations of the papacy — Pope Francis plans to build showers for the homeless under the sweeping white colonnade of St. Peter’s Square.
A homeless man sits close to where the showers are going to be built in St. Peter’s square. Photo via Josephine McKenna/RNS Related Reading
VIDEO: Our Neighbors in the Pews by The Editors Left Behind by John A. Zukowski Compassion in the Stacks by Brittany Shoot Forty Shades of Green by Sean McDonagh The Rich Get Richer by Julie Polter Three showers are to be built into refurbished public restrooms provided for Catholic pilgrims along the marble columns leading into the historic basilica, which was completed in 1626.
The Vatican’s deputy spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, said Nov. 13 that the project was a joint initiative of the pope and Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner who distributes charity on the pope’s behalf. Construction is due to begin Nov. 17.
(Excerpt) Read more at sojo.net ...
It almost seems like the Pope wants to do for the Vatican what Obama is doing for America.
I am thinking they should just move the homeless into the Vatican ..there is lots of space there
That’s actually the end state plan of the rump rangers who have infiltrated The Vatican.
Showers are just phase one of the Plan.
They need to give them showers and clean them up a bit before they decide just which ones they wish to let in ......
They can’t find women either, with brothels be built too?
Will these showers be in the open air?
NOTHING makes sense anymore.
They do it because they know that neither one can be impeached.
I’m sure there will be a long waiting line for the showers too.
“Will these showers be in the open air?”
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A new tourist attraction at St. Peter’s Square.
He's joining the company of the elite-socialist pretenders and comforting the "poor," by sparing himself and afflicting the lowly public.
Funny how he wouldn't "ease the suffering of the poor" by building something in any of the Vatican's private areas - not even his nearby part-time summer residence at the Palace at Castel Gandolfo.
Showers for the homeless???
This is an act of religious faith, of helping the downtrodden, of caring for the least among us, an act of Christian charity???
Are these homeless better off because they have a shower?
In my opinion, if you want to help the homeless, you need to deal with their mental illness, and/or, whatever other circumstances in life caused their condition of homelessness. Why is it that they have no place to live?
Unless you deal with those issues, you are not helping the homeless.
Flame away, if anyone disagrees with this. I hate to see people being homeless, but, setting up showers or feeding programs alone do not really do anything about their situation.
Yup....No room at that great big Inn.
And everybody thought the Mayans were just kidding about the world as we know it ending in 2012.
Turns out they were right after all.
If I was homeless, I know I would really appreciate being able to take a shower once in a while.
It’s the one thing that is really hard to stand on the street corner and beg for.
Besides, the area they want to do this is an area where the homeless ‘hang out’. It would make sense to have public showers in such a place, as the homeless usually can’t afford a cab to get to somewhere like the Pope’s private villa.
I don’t know why we call them ‘homeless’.
Many people don’t own a home, but they don’t live in the street.
Many of these ‘vagrants’ are on the streets because that is where they want to be. I doubt they would want to live in the Vatican, even if invited.
In Honolulu the homeless just catch a bus to the airport for the night.
They use the facilities there for their personal hygiene.
Plenty of benches to sleep on.
Temperature controlled and insect free.
Nice huh?
.
... other than keeping them cleaner/healthier/fed. Keeping them from being a further burden on medical/police services.
Even Jesus said "the poor will always be with us".
The issue, imho, is can we as a society provide basics like shower/toilet/food to the destitute because it's the moral thing to do ? Even if it doesn't 'cure' the problem.
Well... they are just ‘in between’ flights.
If good old Pope Francis really wants to help the poor perhaps he should watch the movie Shoes of the Fisherman.
This is the kind of measure that marks a pope given to personal gestures and moral preening. What good is a shower for the homeless without clean clothes? And how do such accommodations contribute to the role of St. Peter’s as a place of pilgrimage for Catholic faithful? In the end, the result will be to foster aggressive beggary against the faithful and thereby diminish the experience of grace afforded by pilgrimage.
In my opinion, it is not good to provide all these services to homeless, and then send them back into the streets for them to do God knows what, or become victims of crime or other bad situations. In my opinion, we need to deal with why they are homeless. If mentally ill, get them help. If someone is homeless because of running away from a domestic violence situation,get that person help for that issue.
Somehow we as a society have decided that people have a constitutional right to sleep in the streets and sidewalks, and do the inevitable bathroom functions there too.
why didn’t we have all these homeless problems in 1950 or 1960? What changed in society so that we tolerate these problems nowadays? These are questions I don’t have answers to, but I always wonder about, when homeless issues come up.
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