The late Pope Francis donated all his remaining cash to a youth rehabilitation challenge inside a Roman jail in one among his last acts as the top of the Roman Catholic Church.
Earlier than his demise final month, Francis withdrew all the cash from his private checking account to assist a pasta manufacturing unit that employs present and former inmates from the Casal del Marmo detention heart, in accordance with a number of studies.
The manufacturing unit is named Pastificio Futuro, and it was developed “from the desire to transform hope in the future,” in accordance with its web site.
The challenge was began by Gustolibero Onlus, a social cooperative, to reply Pope Francis’s name to individuals: “Don’t let yourselves be robbed of hope,” in accordance with the web site.
Francis died of a stroke and cardiac arrest at 88 on Easter Monday.
Earlier than his demise, Francis was battling double pneumonia after a collection of well being challenges in recent times.
Throughout his time as the top of the Roman Catholic Church, Francis centered closely on serving to imprisoned inmates.
Based on the Vatican Information, Francis has additionally referred to as on society to create extra compassion and respect for such people and to view them as these people able to transformation.
Towards the top of his life, he continued efforts to assist and uplift those that have been incarcerated, together with the opening of a Holy Door on the Rebibbia jail, which is an Italian jail meant for rehabilitation and social reintegration of inmates, in accordance with the Nationwide Catholic Reporter.
Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 1936 to Italian immigrant mother and father in Argentina, Francis made historical past as the primary pope from the Americas, in addition to the primary Jesuit to carry the place.
He was elected pope in 2013 after the unprecedented retirement of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.
He entered the priesthood on the Diocesan Seminary of Villa Devoto in Argentina.
Francis was ordained a priest in 1969 and made his last occupation with the Society of Jesus, often known as the Jesuits, in 1973.
The identical yr, he was appointed as a provincial for the order.
In 1992, Pope John Paul II appointed Bergoglio as titular Bishop of Auca and as an auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires.
This was executed on the request of Cardinal Antonio Quarracino, archbishop of Buenos Aires, who consecrated him to the episcopacy.
Bergoglio proved important to the nation’s Catholic neighborhood, and he was rapidly raised to the dignity of coadjutor archbishop of Buenos Aires, serving alongside Quarracino and taking up the archdiocese in its entirety after Quarracino’s demise the next yr.
Bergoglio was given the crimson hat of a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2001.
In 2013, after the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, Bergoglio was elected to the papacy, deciding on the pontifical identify “Francis” after St. Francis of Assisi, a alternative that set the tone for the remainder of his papacy.
Fox Information’ Caitlin McFall, Emma Colton and Chris Massaro contributed to this report.
