Before the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday, tens of thousands of dignitaries, pilgrims and tourists had the chance to set up and show their respect.
But in the moments in front of his coffin in a simple grave of the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome, it will be a group of people who live in poverty who have the last chance to honor him.
The Vatican says it is an indication of the “privileged place”, the people who live in poverty, in God’s heart and in Francis, who have spent his pontificate to work for the marginalized.
“Everyone misses him,” said Ciobanu Catalin Nelu, 49, who slept under bridges before he was escaped in an animal shelter, just a few steps away from the Vatican.
“No matter whether they are Arabs, Romanians or Muslim … He loved everyone, he helped them.”
Protection in the shadow of the Vatican
The Palazzo Migliori animal shelter is located on the other side of the legendary pillars that adjoin the St. Peter’s Square.
In the early evening on Wednesday, when the crowds urged the area, hoping for the chance to come past the Pope’s coffin, a much smaller group gathered in front of the shelter and waited for it to be opened for the night.
When this was the case, a few dozen were submitted when wearing backpacks and bags full of laundry. Inside they received a bed, a hearty food and a warm conversation.
Pope Francis in 2019 Best Palazzo of the PalaceWhich literally means a “palace of the best” in a home for some of the most endangered in the city.
On Monday after the Pope died, Nelu, who originally came from Romania, said he stared out of the window for hours from his shared room towards St. Peter’s Square.
“I couldn’t sleep,” said Nelu. “Everyone misses him.”
Pope Francis was repeatedly referred to as the Pope for the people who adopted some of the strongest endangered of the strongest of his pontifikin in society. He visited people in poverty, campaigned for migrants and met with gay and transgender activists.
He challenged world leaders and some saw him as a constant voice of compassion in a changing political environment.
“The world is always more selfish,” said Carlo Santoro, the director of the animal shelter, who is led by the municipality of Sant’egidio, a Catholic association that carries out several non -profit projects associated with the Vatican.
“The poor are aware that Pope Francis defends them … not giving up, even if there are obstacles or politics.”
Papal visit
In the city of Rome, more than 22,000 people experience recent data that have been collected by the National Institute of Statistics, and it is common for people to lie on the box and in sleeping bags around St. Peter’s Square and under the overhangs of buildings and churches.
When the Palazzo Migliori, who had been a headquarters for a religious order in Calasianian, was released in 2019, Santoro said that many people transform the building into a hotel.
“(Pope Francis) said it was a hotel, but not for the rich – for the poor,” said Santoro.
“Because the poor earn such places.”
After the shelter was open, Pope Francis visited and sat down with the residents for dinner and sat down.
On Wednesday evening, when the 45 people stayed there who stayed there, a meal from pasta, chicken and salad, they were able to hear the humming sound of the crowd on the St. Peter Square, which had come out to mourn it.
Photos and paintings of the Pope hang on the walls of the animal shelter.
While Francis only visited the shelter once, Santoro said that the residents, volunteers and employees feel a connection to him.
On March 27, 2020, during the height of the closures in Covid Pandemic, the Pope delivered a blessing From the rain-soaked and empty Peter-Platz. The Pope later wrote about the moment in his memoirs and said that he had thought about all the people in need of protection, including those on the “border of society” and “people living on the street”.
At that time, from the terrace of the shelter with a view of the Vatican, Santoro says that they prayed with him.
Pope of the Pope
Santoro refers to one of Francis’ last acts as his unshakable commitment to those who are often on the verge of society.
On Christmas Thursday shortly before Easter, He visited one of Italy’s crowded prisons and with 70 inmates. Usually to mark the day, Francis wash the feet of the prisoners, including those of women and Muslims, in an action to imitate the feet of his disciples of Christ before he died.
This year he did not allow the Pope’s frail health to wash his feet. Instead, he met with the occupants for 30 minutes while he was sitting in a wheelchair. Vatican media reported that he said he wanted to feel close to them and prayed for their families.
Santoro, who had hit Francis several times, said the Pope had a feeling of selflessness and the determination of trying to open the spirit of suffering in the world around her.
Since the Palazzo Migliori Shelter opened almost five years ago, more than 100 of those who spend the night there have been moved to temporary apartments.
Fabrizio Salvati, 69, has arrived in the Palazzo every evening in the past three years and hopes that he can continue soon, but admits that he has some problems.
He started to confront homelessness after falling into a depression that made him sleep at a train station in Rome before moving to the shelter.
Salvati, who wears a wrapped pearl strand with pearls under a blue sweatshirt, smiles when he put himself in his penne plate, and describes how he met the Pope about lunch in 2022, and thanked him.
“The previous popes have always done something for the poor … it is a mission for the church,” said Salvati.
“But this Pope went beyond that and went far beyond.”
He says The Roman Catholic Church and the Vatican City State to organize a newsletter that gives people like Salvati a louder voice.
He has now found some work that was written for the paper and were distributed on St. Peter’s Square.
“This newspaper for me in my life … it gave me a role,” he said. “This is the most important thing for me.
Global lawyer
While the Pope continued to support people who lived in poverty, he was also a defender of migrants and called out what he saw as a lack of empathy.
In 2016 he traveled to the Greek island of Lesbos, which was overwhelmed by refugees who fled from the civil war in Syria and other conflicts in the Middle East and in Africa. He brought back Three Muslim families On board the papal level to move again in Rome.
In the same year, He criticized US President Donald Trump’s plan to build a wall along the border between the USA and Mexico and said that “a person who only thinks of building walls wherever they may be and do not build bridges is not Christian.”
In his final address Easter SundayThe Pope said he prayed for those in conflict zones, including in Ukraine and Gaza Strip, and he knew that “how much contempt at times towards vulnerable, the marginalized and migrants were moved,” and he knew that he prayed for those in conflict areas.
Back in the Palazzo Migliori, Santoro, who has been working with people in poverty in Rome for decades, says the Pope is really connected to them.
Outside the animal shelter, a man who went with a stick was worn by a transparent plastic bag with belongings, including a postcard of Pope Francis.
“The Pope live,” he called when he went away.
