ROME — Pope Francis is mourning the death of a homeless German man who died just outside the Vatican this week, the Holy See reported.
“Pope Francis learned with sorrow of Burkhard Scheffler’s death near Saint Peter’s colonnade last night,” the Vatican Press Office declared in a communiqué Friday.
Burkhard was born in Germany in 1961 and lived on the streets of Rome, attended to by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Charity, the statement said.
“Unfortunately, the past nights of cold and rain have contributed to aggravate the frailty of his condition, already marked by street life,” it continued.
“In his prayer, the pope remembers Burkhard and all those who are forced to live homeless in Rome and around the world, and invites the faithful to join him,” it said.
The communiqué also said that the Apostolic Almoner, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, was in the town of Assisi on pilgrimage, and there entrusted Burkhard to the intercession of Saint Francis, patron of the town.
Since early in his pontificate, Pope Francis made attention to the homeless, especially those living closest to the Vatican, a point of special attention.
In 2014, the pontiff had Vatican public restrooms renovated and had showers installed so that the homeless could wash. As a result, the area around the Vatican, especially Bernini’s iconic colonnade, soon became a haven for the homeless, a phenomenon that has continued up to the present.
During the coronavirus pandemic, the pope gave instructions for vaccines to be administered to all the homeless in the area.