Vatican to open its museums and the Sistine Chapel to the homeless

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ROME — First Pope Francis gave the homeless in and around St. Peter’s Square sleeping bags to mark his birthday last December. Then the Vatican built showers and got barbers and hairdressers to give them free haircuts and shaves. And now it’s planning to throw open the doors of its museums and the Sistine Chapel to them.

The initiative comes from Polish Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, the man appointed by Pope Francis as his personal representative in aiding the poor.

This week, Krajewski announced that on Thursday, a group of 150 homeless men and women will get a guided visit of the museums and take part in a private prayer in the Sistine Chapel, followed by a free dinner at the museum’s restaurant.

According to L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, the visit is designed to allow the poor to admire the artistic beauty that lies inside the Vatican’s walls, not just what’s visible from the steps of the colonnade around St. Peter’s Square.

cruxnow.com/church/2015/03/24/vatican-to-open-its-museums-and-the-sistine-chapel-to-the-homeless/
 
Pope Frances sure seems to be most Christ-like in respect to the homeless.
 
Francis had asked him to get out of the Vatican to look for the poor.
“The Holy Father told me: ‘You can sell your desk. You don’t need it’” he said.

That is my favorite part of this article.
 
Had they been banned before?

Seems like Chicago churches and museums were always haven to the poor and homeless. Not always with public approval and support, but a haven nevertheless.
 
He better pray that nobody pukes on the artwork.

Seriously, there should be other vacant buildings to set up for the homeless. The museums & especially the Sistine Chapel are too precious to be exposed to possible damage.
 
truetofaith said:
He better pray that nobody pukes on the artwork.

Seriously, there should be other vacant buildings to set up for the homeless. The museums & especially the Sistine Chapel are too precious to be exposed to possible damage.
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I think they are just giving them a tour, not letting them camp there.
 
ProVobis said:
Had they been banned before?
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Not sure what the change in policy was. Kind of makes you wonder if there is a bias in the article? To make it look like Pope Francis is doing something that other recent popes had not done. That might be the case though. It is definitely a different tone that using automated sprinkler to chase the homeless away from doorways, like in San Francisco’s cathedral.
 
robertmidwest said:
… not letting them camp there.
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That’s one thing you don’t tell them; otherwise you’re not being genuinely humanitarian.

All my opinion, of course.
robertmidwest said:
Kind of makes you wonder if there is a bias in the article? To make it look like Pope Francis is doing something that other recent popes had not done.
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I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for now.
 
news.yahoo.com/vatican-homeless-private-vip-tour-sistine-chapel-201940314.html

In Pope Francis’s latest gesture toward Rome’s homeless, the Vatican said on Tuesday homeless people will get a special private tour of its museums and the Sistine Chapel.

About 150 homeless people who frequent the Vatican area - where Pope Francis has already set up facilities for them to have showers - will make the visit on Thursday afternoon, the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano said.
 
It’s a nice gesture. When I first saw the headline I thought it meant “the homeless” could go in whenever they wanted. That would be a disaster.

I wonder how a person goes about proving his “bone fides” as a homeless person…“Show me your I.D.” “Sorry, don’t have one.” “Ok, go on in.” ?

Dan
 
robertmidwest said:
I think they are just giving them a tour, not letting them camp there.
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Thank you, now that I read the full article, I see that it is just for a dinner & tour of the buildings. I misunderstood & thought they were going to have sleeping bags for them just like in St. Peter’s Sq. 😊
 
Thanks for posting.
No matter how often this kind of gesture has been done before ,it is always heart warming to read.
 
"The cardinal (McCarrick) recalled meeting then-Cardinal Jorge Bergolio at the airport in Buenos Aires.

“He picked me up in a rickety borrowed red Ford, driven by its owner. As we rode to our destination, he didn’t point out tourist sites, but places that troubled him,” he said, including a settlement of impoverished people under a bridge and an adult prison that housed young offenders. Cardinal Bergolio told him that he visited both locations, but knew he should do so more often.

“The only things I saw were his concerns. I really would have been less troubled if he had just shown me the sites,” Cardinal McCarrick said, because it made him think how attractions he shows his own visitors might reflect his priorities." catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1501260.htm

Apparrently our Holy Father has long been concerned for the poor and those in need of God’s mercy.
 
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