Pope Francis commissions showers for the homeless under St. Peter’s colonnades

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…on Monday 17th November work will begin to build three showers within the public restrooms for pilgrims under St. Peter’s colonnades. They will be devoted to the homeless who find themselves near the Basilica. They will be able to wash and change their underwear beneath the windows of the Apostolic Palace. And upon the invitation of the Pope’s Almoner, ten parishes in Rome in the neighborhoods most frequented by the homeless have already built showers which are available to them.
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vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/inquiries-and-interviews/detail/articolo/francesco-francis-francisco-san-pietro-saint-peter-san-pedro-37466/

While I applaud this effort, I kind of wonder why it took this long for something like this to happen in Rome.

Do you think this would work here in the states? It’s certainly a better approach than what California is leaning toward.
 
Public washing facilities are quite common in Italy. They are much used by the homeless.
 
GAHere said:
vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/inquiries-and-interviews/detail/articolo/francesco-francis-francisco-san-pietro-saint-peter-san-pedro-37466/

Do you think this would work here in the states? It’s certainly a better approach than what California is leaning toward.
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Sadly, I don’t think it would. People would say it would…as long as it was not in their neighborhood.

Americans have a clearly defined view of the homeless and the poor, and its not good…we see reluctance in helping people on the streets (“They’ll just use the money to buy booze or drugs!”, etc…).

Pope Francis is a true disciple of Christ!
 
Neofight said:
Sadly, I don’t think it would. People would say it would…as long as it was not in their neighborhood.
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Yeah, sadly, I think you’re right. They’d approve it in a neighboring town, much like with prisons. They call to have more jail time but fight building the jails to house the convicted.
Maybe the opposition to the prisons is more about the ‘comfort’ prisoners are allowed, but I suspect the argument against showers and washing facilities for the homeless would be more about safety from those with mental illness, or for those with mental illness.

I wonder if we made the facilities available here how many would avail themselves of the service. There have been several programs developed to help select populations which never took off because the target population didn’t feel safe or were suspicious of the intent.
 
Catholic Charities operates a facility that offers showers and laundry free of charge for the homeless in our area. Because it depends on volunteers, the days and hours are somewhat limited, but it does provide help for several people.
 
[and] you shall love your neighbor as yourself! Yes, this is a humanitarian act, acts that we are obliged to do. I applaud what I believe is the beginning of humanitarianism in our world that will truly end this type of poverty, but we have a long way to go. Some experts are predicting extreme poverty in about 15 years; poverty that is currently causing the starvation of children at the rate of 9,000 per day! These same experts are predicting that the standard of living of all those living in poverty to climb during this same time period. I’m praying that this really happens.

LOVE! ❤️
 
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