Vatican City, 10 June, 2020 / 3:30 pm (ACI Africa).
As Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis has started a fund with 1 million euros ($1.1 million) to help those in the Diocese of Rome who are facing economic difficulty because of the coronavirus.
In a June 8 letter to Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, Rome’s vicar general, Pope Francis said “there are many fathers and mothers of a family who are fighting with difficulty to be able to set the table for their children and to guarantee there will be the minimum needed.”
“As Bishop of Rome, I decided to institute in the diocese, the ‘Jesus the Divine Worker’ Fund, to recall the dignity of work…” he said.
The 1 million euros will go to the Diocese of Rome’s charitable organization, Caritas, and is intended to help those who are most gravely impacted economically because of the coronavirus and the measures put in place to control its spread. Especially, the pope said, the fund is for those who are likely to be excluded from institutional sources of support.
In his letter, Pope Francis said he wanted Rome’s return to “normality” after the coronavirus pandemic to be marked by “a work which sees us united, above all in facing the suffering of those who are the most marginalized.”