杏MAP导航 dedicates ambulance to care for Rome鈥檚 homeless
By Devin Watkins
On the morning of Pentecost Sunday, 杏MAP导航 Francis blessed a Vatican ambulance which will serve the poor of Rome.
The 杏MAP导航 entrusted the ambulance to the Office of Papal Charities, under the direction of Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the Papal Almoner.
According to a statement from the Holy See Press Office, the ambulance belongs to the Vatican's fleet and has SCV (Vatican) license plates.
It will now be used exclusively to assist 鈥渢he poorest, who remain almost invisible to Institutions.鈥�
Abandoned and alone
The statement recalls the 鈥渟ad ordeal of Modesta Valenti, an elderly homeless woman to whom the city of Rome has dedicated a street.鈥�
On 31 January 1983, after a long, cold night sleeping rough outside Termini train station, she felt ill.
鈥淪everal passers-by called an ambulance, which declined to assist her because of her poor hygiene,鈥� reads the statement. 鈥淎fter 4 long hours, several hospitals refused to take responsibility for her. Modesta was left on the ground, suffering. She died before an ambulance finally arrived.鈥�
Part of a team
The newly-blessed ambulance will assist other initiatives overseen by the Papal Almoner.
These include a mobile clinic used to provide care to the poor in Rome鈥檚 poorer neighborhoods, as well as the Mother of Mercy Clinic, set up in the Colonnade of St. Peter鈥檚 Square which offers first-aid care to homeless people in the area.
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