Homeless people will soon
be able to use not only shower and restroom facilities but also
a barber service in St Peter's Square, the Vatican said
Thursday.
The service is an initiative of the Office of papal
charities in keeping with Pope Francis' reiterated concern for
the poorest and most vulnerable members of society.
Haircuts and shaves will be available to Rome's
down-and-outs free of charge on Mondays - the day on which
barber shops and hairdressers in Italy are traditionally closed
- starting February 16 in specially renovated premises under St
Peter's colonnade.
The service will be provided by volunteer barbers from
UNITALSI (Italian National Union for Transport of the Sick to
Lourdes and International Shrines) and Rome's barber school, who
have already donated razors, brushes, scissors, a mirror and a
barber's chair towards the effort.
The three new showers and toilets ordered by the pope last
November should also come into operation in the same premises on
the same day.
"The first thing we want is to give people their dignity,"
Monsignor Konrad Krajewski, the Polish archbishop who heads up
the Office of papal charities, told ANSA.
"A person who isn't able to wash is rejected by society and
we all know that a homeless person cannot enter a public place
such as a bar or restaurant and ask to use the services because
these are denied," the papal almoner continued.
"But of course showering and being able to wash one's
underwear is not enough. It is also necessary to have tidy hair
and a neat beard, also to prevent disease," Krajewski said.
"This is another service that a homeless person might have
difficulty accessing in a normal shop because of fears of the
spread of diseases such as scabies to the other customers,"
continued the prelate.
The 'Pope's barber' therefore aims to provide a service
"for the common good of the city", he said.
The project comes on the heels of November's order by Pope
Francis for showers to be built for the homeless in St Peter's
Square.
"We are not doing anything extraordinary because bathrooms
and showers are the ABC of a community," Krajewski said at the
time.
"In Rome all the public restrooms have been shut down and
it would suffice to close your bathroom at home for two days to
understand what it means to not be able to wash," the Polish
prelate said.
"I say this also to (Rome) Mayor Ignazio Marino, who is a
doctor - where should these people go to relieve themselves?"
"This is just helping in an intelligent way, when I speak
to politicians they speak of so many things but they don't touch
on the real questions and meanwhile so much money is thrown
away," the monsignor added.
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