Italy: interventions of the Office of Papal Charities in Rome and Lazio

The Papal Almoner, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski has made many interventions in the name of the Pope, both in Rome and outside the city.

The Office of Papal Charities, being the “first aid of charity” of Pope Francis, has continued to offer material and spiritual support to the poor even during this coronavirus emergency, in full compliance with the decrees issued by the Italian government. The shower facilities and toilets dedicated to them under the Colonnade around St. Peter’s Square, as well as the medical facilities, have remained open, because for the poor it is a necessity that must be respected.

Cardinal Krajewski has also changed the way of distribution of meals in order to avoid gatherings, handing out sack dinners every evening, called “heart’s bags”, as they are prepared with love. This was the most direct way not to abandon those already living in difficult conditions and who could risk being even more isolated.

On March 23, the cardinal went to the Generalate of the Daughters of San Camillo at Grottaferrata and to the Congregation of the Angelic Sisters of Saint Paul in via Casilina, two female religious communities that were put in isolation, because many of the religious had been found positive to the coronavirus. Krajewski took some products of the Pontifical Villas of Castel Gandolfo as a gift, such as fresh milk and yogurt.

A similar donation was also delivered to the John XXIII Retirement Home, managed by the Sisters of Charity Association.

On April 8, the Papal Almoner even arrived at Porano, in the province of Terni, where he supplied to the house of San Bernardino of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary with food and disinfectants, a residence for elderly consecrated sisters and in need of care, wherein 17 nuns out of 39, were tested positive for the swab.

The list of the Cardinal's “blitz” is a little longer. Similarly, on April 4, it was the turn of the “Selam Palace” at Romanina, just outside the Grande Raccordo Anulare of Rome, a seven-storey building, in which about a thousand people (including many children) live in precarious conditions, most of whom come from the Horn of Africa. They were provided with necessities such as pasta, rice, tomatoes and milk, as well as soaps, disinfectants, masks and thermometers in order to help them face the emergency.

On April 17 the same service was repeated in via Marsala, in Rome, with the distribution of sleeping bags, food, soap and masks to the homeless who live near Termini Station.

For more information, click here.

These gifts from Pope Francis arrived after the announcement of March 27, 2020 in response to the needs of various hospitals from all around the world.

In fact, on this date, the Papal Almoner, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, announced the donation of Pope Francis of 30 respirators, purchased in the previous days, intended for intensive care units of the hospital structures that needed them most.

For more information, click here.