Don’t be blind to refugees and the needy, Pope says in appeal

Thursday, 2 January 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

REUTERS: Pope Francis urged the people of Rome not to let the beauty of their city to blind them to the growing number of homeless, refugees, and unemployed living among them. Francis, who is also the bishop of Rome, has made appeals for people to reach out to the poor in a personal way a hallmark of his papacy, presided at a solemn vespers ceremony on Tuesday in St. Peter’s to mark the end of the year. “Rome is full of tourists but it is also full of refugees,” the head of the 1.2 billion member Roman Catholic Church said in his homily at the service known as the “Te Deum” prayers of thanksgiving. He asked Romans not to see their city just as a “picture postcard” metropolis but to open their eyes to the many people who are unemployed, underpaid and suffering from “material and moral poverty”. Francis, who has brought a simpler style to the Vatican, was known as the “slum bishop” when he was in his native Buenos Aires because of his frequent visit to the poorest neighbourhoods in the Argentine capital. According to the Italian Catholic charity group Sant’ Egidio, which helps the poor, refugees and immigrants, there are about 8,000 homeless people in Rome and the number has grown by about 10% in recent years. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said 7,800 migrants and asylum seekers arrived in Italy in the first half of the year alone, many of whom have fled from the fighting in Syria. Many other needy people in Rome have a roof over their heads but the economic crisis has forced them to look to charities for meals and social services, according to the group, which runs soup kitchens around the Italian capital. Earlier this month, data from national statistics office Istat showed a third of people living in Italy risked poverty or social exclusion, compared with a European average of 24.8%. Just over 21% were not able to heat their homes adequately, up from 18% in 2011. After the vespers service, Francis visited the traditional life-size nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square and exchanged new year’s wishes with people in the square.

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