Pope urges action to house homeless families
A group of demonstrators display a banner with writing reading: “Poor people can’t wait,” as they attend Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2013. Francis urged anti-austerity protesters who attended his weekly Angelus blessing to use dialogue and not violence to press their demands. Francis also urged political and social actors around the world to do “all they can” to ensure that all families have a roof over their heads. AP/GREGORIO BORGIA
VATICAN CITY—Pope Francis on Sunday urged political and social actors around the world to do “all they can” to ensure that all families have a roof over their heads.
“There are so many families without homes, either because they never had one or because they lost them for so many different reasons,” the pontiff said after reciting the traditional Sunday Angelus prayer.
“Family and home go together,” he said, asking “everyone—social services, authorities—to do all they can so that all families can have a home.”
Looking out over St. Peter’s Square from his podium in a window of the Apostolic Palace, the 77-year-old pope spotted a banner reading “The Poor Can’t Wait,” and said, “That’s a nice one,” drawing hearty applause.
Francis, since his election in March, has established himself as a global voice on the side of the dispossessed.
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