Pope makes alms personal

From sending parchments to visiting the poor in their homes.

The Papal Almoner is traditionally in charge of the parchments associated with Papal Blessing.

But now the Pope is asking something more of the newly appointed Archbishop. Francis told him: “I want you always among the people. In Buenos Aires I often went out in the evening to go find the poor. Now I no longer can: it is difficult for me to leave the Vatican. You will do it for me.”From now on, Krajewski says, the donations to charity will be a bit more personal.

“I will give an example,” says the archbishop. “If someone asks for aid to pay a bill [electricity or gas], it is good that I should go, if possible, to the home to bring the aid materially, in order to make him understand that the pope, through the almoner, is close to him.”

Based on a story by Joshua J. McElwee in the NCR, See also story about the Pope responding to an elderly mugging victim.

For those in the Vincentian tradition this puts a new face on the home visit.

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