BY Ian Dunn | December 18 | 
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Pope to open Holy Door at homeless centre
Four guests at newly re-opened facility at Termini in Rome will join today’s procession
Pope Francis will open a Holy Door today at a newly refurbished homeless centre run by the Church near Rome’s main train station.
Four guests of the hostel will join a procession with the Pope, during which prayers will be dedicated to saints linked to the theme of mercy such as St Philip Neri and St John Paul II.
About 200 guests will greet the pope in the soup kitchen, where he will celebrate the Eucharist rite. Francis asked for this to be a personal and private meeting with the people who actually make use of the charity’s services.
About 500 other people will observe the rite from outside the building, including Caritas volunteers.
The hostel at Termini, which can now host 195 people, has welcomed the homeless, poor and immigrants for 25 years. The soup kitchen offers an evening meal for 500 people. The two centres were reopened on December 10 following renovation work.
The Holy Door Francis will open here features a mosaic by artist Fr Marko Ivan Rupnik portraying the logo of the Jubilee of Mercy.
Speaking at the inauguration of the new centre, the present director of Caritas Rome described as a place of dignity and welcome. Mgr Enrico Feroci quoted the words of Don Luigi who said, ‘a city in which one man suffers less is a better city.’
Those words are inscribed on the walls of the new pristine canteen which offers a much needed respite from the streets outside where people can come, for warmth, contact with others, and a good meal.
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