(By Michelle Ruelle).
Pope Francis plans to open a 30-bed, volunteer-run dormitory for the homeless, sources told ANSA on Monday, continuing in his papal ministry of reaching out to 'the disinherited of the earth', as he said during his Asian tour in Sri Lanka and the Philippines last January.
Francis's approach has also been dubbed a 'theology of tears', or the ability to shed tears for other people in need.
A memorable moment during his Asian trip came when a 12-year-old girl in Manila asked the Pope, while sobbing, "Why did God let this happen to us?", referring to the typhoon that hit the Philippines.
Pope Francis told the crowd: "the great question of why so many children suffer, she did this in tears. The response that we can make today is: let us really learn how to weep".
This 'theology of tears' has had a visible impact in St.
Peter's Square this year, where in February a volunteer-run shower complex, funded by local parishes and furnished with three showers and a barber stall, opened its doors to the first homeless visitors.
Monsignor Krajewski, a Polish archbishop who heads up the Vatican's Office of Papal Charities, said the entire initiative is aimed at "giving people their dignity".
In his daily morning mass on the week that the shower complex for the homeless opened, Pope Francis said the gospel should be shared "in poverty" and added that "salvation isn't a theology of prosperity".
That same day in February, following nearly a week of unusually rainy weather in the Italian capital and Vatican City, the pope had 300 umbrellas distributed to the homeless in St.
Peter's Square.
In March, the pontiff embraced 25 homeless people who travelled from Marseille to the Vatican for his weekly general audience.
Ten days later, Pope Francis made a surprise visit at a Sistine Chapel tour organized by Msgr Krajewski for 150 homeless people, shaking hands with those he met.
During his visit the pope said, "This is the house of all, it is your house. The doors are always open for all". Pope Francis also asked the homeless visitors to pray for him, and said, "I need the prayers of people like you." http://popefrancisnewsapp.com/
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
