Visits with children and the elderly

This afternoon, Pope Francis went to the Boccea area, near the SOS Village in Rome, a family home which welcomes children on the recommendation of Social Services and the Courts, who are facing particular personal, family and social hardships.

The Village consists of five houses, in each of which there are a maximum of six boys and girls under the age of 12 years, together with an adult, an SOS Mother.  The Village is structured in order to be able to follow and support children as they grow, accompanying them with a real family and especially through various steps of their growth and integration into society.  In fact, children are taken to school, to their parish and to participate in sports.  Various professionals - residents, non-residents or volunteers - who work in the Centre accompany the children for a period of various numbers of years, contributing to the creation of stable human relationships which help them to establish their own autonomy.  In the Village, there are also some older youth who have chosen to stay close by the Centre in order to continue to enjoy the support and a point of reference, as well as to help with daily activities.

The SOS Village operates according to the pedagogical and organizational model of the fist SOS Village which was founded in Austria in 1949.  Paolo and Maria, who direct the Village in Rome, told Pope Francis the story of Hermann Gmeiner, a young Austrian medical student who, profoundly touched by the hundreds of children who had lost their parents because of the devastation of war, opened the first SOS Village in Austria, developed the educational model of humanity based on the warmth of a true family, in strong contrast to the model of orphanages which was widely practiced at the time.

The boys and girls, accompanied by the personnel of the Centre, led the Pope through the green zone of the Village which also includes a football field and a small playground.  They then showed the Pope their rooms and their toys.  His Holiness listened intently to their stories and even spent some time enjoying a small snack with them.

After the visit with the children in the SOS Village in Rome, Pope Francis paid a visit to Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, who is recovering at the Villa Betania Care Home; then, around 5:30pm, His Holiness returned to the Vatican.