Vatican McDonald's to provide free meals to Rome's homeless

Jardine Malado Saturday, January 14, 2017

The St. Peter's Square before the St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Obelisk. | Wikimedia Commons/Jean-Pol GRANDMONT

The newly opened McDonald's near the Vatican has promised to provide the homeless with free meals.

The charity organization Medicina Solidale announced that it is working with the popular fast food chain and the papal almoner's office, which provides aid to the homeless around the Vatican on behalf of the pope, to dole out free meals to the homeless around St. Peter's Basilica.

According to the Catholic Herald, volunteers of the organization will be distributing a specially prepared meal which includes a double cheeseburger, fresh apple slices and a bottle of water.

Lucia Ercoli, director of Medicina Solidale, said that the charity plans to distribute 100 meals a week for 10 consecutive Mondays, starting on Jan. 16. She said that the fast food chain "quickly responded" to the proposal to donate food to the homeless around the Vatican.

"With these meals, we'll make a significant leap in providing so many women and men who live on the street in this neighbourhood the possibility of a meal that will guarantee a suitable intake of proteins and vitamins for them," said Ercoli.

The opening of a McDonald's store near the Vatican generated controversy when some cardinals opposed it last December.

Italian Cardinal Elio Sgreccia said that the proposal to open the branch at a Vatican-owned building was a "controversial, perverse decision."

"It's a commercial decision that ignores the culinary traditions of the Roman restaurant industry," said Sgreccia, the president emeritus of the Vatican's Academy for Life, which leads the church's battles against abortion and euthanasia.

It was revealed last year that the decision to rent part of the building to McDonald's was approved by the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic (APSA), a division of the church that oversees the Vatican's assets. McDonald's is reportedly paying $32,000 a month in rent for the store.

Pope Francis has launched several programs to provide aid to the homeless, including free haircuts by volunteer barbers and the distribution of sleeping bags on winter nights. Many of the homeless are now able to take showers after the pope provided them with bathrooms near St. Peter's Square.