Posted on Wednesday, 25th March, 2015 at 7:08 PM by NC
150 homeless people will be welcomed in the Vatican Museums Thursday afternoon, 26 March 2015, for a guided tour with all the trimmings as it were. The visit will include a moment of prayer in the
Sistine Chapel, the location where the Pope.....
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150 homeless people will be welcomed in the Vatican Museums Thursday afternoon, 26 March 2015, for a guided tour with all the trimmings as it were. The visit will include a moment of prayer in the
Sistine Chapel, the location where the Pope is traditionally elected. The group will then be welcomed to dinner.
Guests will be divided into three groups and givena special ticket offered by the Office of Papal Charities. They will arrive in the Vatican in the afternoon. Given that the homeless usually carry
their belongings with them, it is likely that some will turn up with backpacks, trolleys and possibly dogs they may have adopted as trusted friends.
Some Museum guides and custodians will be on hand to accompany them: they will be given headphones and escorted into the Museums where they will visit the Carriage Pavilion first. They will then
make their way up tot the Upper Galleries (Gallery of the Candelabra and the Gallery of maps) then onto the Apartment of Pius V and the Sistine Chapel. The Chapel will be empty as it will remain
closed to the public for the occasion. The group of homeless will be shown Michelangelo’s frescoes before gathering in a brief moment of prayer.
The group will make its way to the refreshments area in the Museum, where visitors will be offered dinner and then accompanied to the Vatican exit. Readers will recall that there has been a shower
service for the homeless – who are being made to feel increasingly at home right beneath the Pope’s window – in operation for several weeks under the Colonnade in St. Peter’s Square. Francis
has already involved the homeless twice in the distribution of pocket-sized Gospels underlining the importance of receiving this gift from the hands of those in need, in line with what he has
reiterated on more than one occasion: that you approach the poor in order to receive from them, to be evangelised by them. After the Gospel was distributed, last Sunday too, the homeless were offered
sandwiches handed out by the Office of Papal Charities.
Thursday’s initiative will give them access to the Vatican’s most beautiful location: a beauty that belongs to all, even to those who have the misfortune of living on the streets as beggars.
