Sant'Egidio

I arrived late in Rome Thursday Night, after what was a tremendously difficult journey as you can image. On Friday afternoon I went to help out the Sant'Egidio community serve food to about a 1000 of Rome's homeless people. The community was set up in 1968 and has now expanded to 70 countries around the world. It offers free meals, which were both nutritious and substantial. The homeless that attend, are given bread, fruit, and a choice of starters and main courses. They are also given something to drink and cared for by the volunteers that help out. The volunteers come from many of the convents and Seminaries in Rome. Four attending each week from the Beda.

The community was visited on Christmas eve, by the Pope who ate there before going to celebrate midnight mass at Saint Peters. A mass in which he was, famously, attacked and in which the French Cardinal's hip was broken. His visit however was still talked about by those at the Sant'Egidio community