The honoured guests at Pope Francis's funeral: Rome's most vulnerable

Before Pope Francis's ceremonial connected Saturday, tens of thousands of dignitaries, pilgrims and tourists volition person had the accidental to enactment up and pay their respects. 

But successful the moments earlier his casket is interred successful a elemental tomb at the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica successful Rome, it volition beryllium a radical of radical surviving successful poorness who volition person the last accidental to honour him. 

The Vatican says it's an denotation of the "privileged place" that radical surviving successful poorness person successful God's heart, and successful Francis's, who spent his pontificate advocating for the marginalized. 

"Everybody misses him," said Ciobanu Catalin Nelu, 49, who was sleeping nether bridges before being fixed refuge astatine a shelter just steps from the Vatican. 

"Whether you are Arab, Romanian, oregon Muslim ... helium loved everybody, helium helped them."

A structure successful the shadows of the Vatican 

The shelter, Palazzo Migliori, lies connected the different broadside of the iconic columns bordering St. Peter's Square. 

In the aboriginal evening connected Wednesday, arsenic crowds thronged the country hoping for a accidental to walk by the Pope's casket, a overmuch smaller radical gathered successful beforehand of the shelter, waiting for it to unfastened for the night.

When it did, a fewer twelve filed successful carrying backpacks and bags afloat of laundry. Inside, they were fixed a bed, a hearty repast and lukewarm conversation. 

In 2019, Pope Francis turned the Palazzo Migliori, which literally translates to "Palace of the Best," into a location for immoderate of the city's astir vulnerable. 

On Monday, aft the Pope died, Nelu, who is primitively from Romania, said helium stared retired the model from his shared country toward St. Peter's Square for hours. 

"I couldn't sleep" Nelu said. "Everybody misses him."

Pope Francis has been repeatedly called a pope for the people, who made reaching retired to immoderate of society's astir susceptible a precedence of his pontificate. He visited radical surviving successful poverty, advocated for migrants and met with cheery and transgender activists. 

He challenged satellite leaders, and immoderate saw him arsenic a dependable dependable of compassion in a shifting governmental environment.

"The satellite is ever sometimes much selfish," said Carlo Santoro, the manager of the structure that is tally by the Community of Sant'Egidio, a Catholic relation that runs respective charitable projects connected to the Vatican. 

"The mediocre are alert that Pope Francis defends them ... doesn't wantonness them, adjacent erstwhile determination are obstacles oregon politics."

Papal visit 

In the metropolis of Rome, much than 22,000 radical are experiencing homelessness, according to caller information collected by the  National Institute of Statistics, and it's communal to spot radical lying connected cardboard and successful sleeping bags astir St. Peter's Square and nether the overhangs of buildings and churches. 

When the Palazzo Migliori, which had been a office for an all-female Calasanziane spiritual order, became vacant successful 2019, Santoro said determination was a propulsion by galore radical to crook the gathering into a hotel.

"[Pope Francis] said yes, it would beryllium a hotel, but not for the affluent — for the poor," Santoro said. 

"Because the mediocre merit places similar this."

After the structure opened, Pope Francis visited and sat down with residents implicit dinner. 

On Wednesday night, arsenic the 45 radical staying determination ate a repast of pasta, chickenhearted and salad, they could perceive the buzzing dependable of the assemblage successful St. Peter's quadrate that had travel retired to mourn him. 

On the shelter's walls bent photos and paintings of the Pope. 

While Francis lone visited the structure once, Santoro said the residents, volunteers and unit felt a transportation to him. 

On March 27, 2020, during the tallness of lockdowns in the COVID pandemic, the Pope delivered a blessing from the rain-soaked and bare St. Peter's Square. The Pope later wrote astir the infinitesimal successful his memoir, saying that helium thought astir each of the susceptible radical including those connected the "fringes of society" and "people surviving connected the street."

Back then, from the shelter's terrace overlooking the Vatican, Santoro says they were praying close on with him. 

Pope's outreach

Santoro points to 1 of Francis's last acts arsenic his unwavering committedness to those often connected the margins of society. 

On Holy Thursday, conscionable earlier Easter, he visited one of Italy's astir overcrowded prisons and met with 70 inmates. Normally, to people the day, Francis would lavation the feet of prisoners, including those of women and Muslims, successful an enactment to imitate Christ's washing of his disciples' feet earlier helium died. 

This year, the Pope's frail wellness near him incapable to lavation the feet, truthful instead, portion sitting successful his wheelchair, helium met with the inmates for 30 minutes. Vatican media reported that helium said helium wanted to consciousness adjacent to them, and was praying for their families. 

Santoro, who had met Francis a fig of times, said the Pope had a consciousness of selflessness, and a determination to effort to unfastened people's minds to the suffering successful the satellite astir them.

Since the Palazzo Migliori structure opened astir 5 years ago, much than 100 of those staying determination person been moved into impermanent housing.

Fabrizo Salvati, 69, has arrived astatine the palazzo each nighttime for the past 3 years, and says helium hopes to beryllium capable to determination connected soon, too, but admits helium has immoderate troubles. 

He started facing homelessness aft falling into a slump that near him sleeping astatine a railway presumption successful Rome earlier moving to the shelter. 

Salvati, who wears a coiled strand of pearls underneath a bluish sweatshirt, smiles arsenic helium tucks into his sheet of penne, and describes however helium met the Pope implicit a luncheon successful 2022, and thanked him.

"The erstwhile popes person ever done thing for the mediocre ... it's a ngo for the church," Salvati said. 

"But this Pope has gone beyond, has gone far, acold beyond."

He says it was the Pope who pushed the the Holy See, the cardinal governing assemblage of the Roman Catholic Church and the Vatican City state, to rotation retired a newsletter giving radical similar Salvati a louder voice. 

He has present recovered immoderate enactment penning for the insubstantial and handing retired copies in St. Peter's Square.

"This paper for maine successful my beingness ... it gave maine backmost a role," helium said. "That is the astir important happening to me.

Global advocate

While the Pope continually advocated for radical surviving successful poverty, helium was besides a defender of migrants and called retired what helium saw arsenic a deficiency of empathy.

In 2016, helium travelled to the Greek land of Lesbos, which was overwhelmed with refugees fleeing the civilian warfare successful Syria and different conflicts in the Middle East and Africa. He brought backmost 3 Muslim families aboard the papal level to resettle successful Rome. 

That aforesaid year, helium criticized U.S. President Donald Trump's program to physique a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, saying that "a idiosyncratic who lone thinks about gathering walls, wherever they whitethorn be, and not gathering bridges, is not Christian."

In his last code connected Easter Sunday, which was delivered by 1 of his aides from a Vatican balcony, the Pope said helium was praying for those successful struggle zones, including successful Ukraine and successful Gaza, and helium remarked astir "how overmuch contempt is stirred up astatine times towards the vulnerable, the marginalized and migrants."

Back astatine the Palazzo Migliori, Santoro, who has been moving with radical surviving successful poorness successful Rome for decades, says the Pope was truly connected with them. 

Outside the shelter, 1 antheral walking with a cane carried a transparent integrative bag filled with belongings, including a postcard of Pope Francis. 

"Long unrecorded the Pope," helium shouted arsenic helium wandered away.