The Vatican has promised to help a 35-year-old destitute homeless woman who went into labor around 2:30 a.m. and gave birth to a baby girl on a cardboard box in the bitterly cold temperature in Vatican City just outside St. Peter’s Square.
Vatican spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi, said the Romanian woman, who is one of many homeless people in the city, gave birth to the baby in the early morning hours yesterday in Piazza Pio XII, just outside of Bernini’s colonnade.
The poor woman has been offered a free place to stay for a year at the women’s shelter managed by the Missionaries of Charity according to Fr Lombardi.
An Italian policeman who assisted in the delivery,called an ambulance which transported the mother and child to a hospital not far away.
Fr Lombardi told the reporters that Pope Francis’ Almoner, Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, was informed of the delivery and promptly paid her a visit at the hospital.
The woman is yet to accept the offer.
The reporters asked Fr Lombardi whether the help came directly from the Pope, he replied them saying: “Everything that is done for the homeless and all of Archbishop Krajewski’s activities are done in the Pope’s name.”
