Vatican Opens Doors to Homeless for Special Tour, Dinner

The Vatican will open its doors today to the homeless of St. Peters' Square, allowing the people who usually only see its steps outside to observe its beauty inside.

A group of 150 homeless men and women were invited to take a guided tour of the museum and gardens, participate in private prayer in the Sistine Chapel and receive a free dinner in the Vatican Museum's cafeteria.

The tour will pass the Casa Santa Marta, where Pope Francis has chosen to live instead of the stately Papal apartment, and include a stop at a recently opened room in the museum that houses the Pope's historical carriages.

When the group reaches the Sistine Chapel for prayer, they will be the only ones there. ANSA reports the chapel which contains Michelangelo's fresco masterpieces will close early to allow for the exclusive tour.

The invitation is just one of a string of actions taken by the pontiff to reach out to the poor. To mark his birthday in December, Pope Francis had sleeping bags distributed to the homeless in and around St. Peter's Square. In February, the Vatican built showers and hired barbers for the homeless around the square.

And in mid-June, Francis will lunch with some of Turin's homeless on a visit there, the Vatican announced yesterday.

Pope Francis' outreach to the poor echo one of the central messages of his papacy. "Do not be afraid to go and to bring Christ into every area of life, to the fringes of society, even to those who seem farthest away, most indifferent," Francis said in 2013.

The Vatican has called on the homeless to help distribute gospels or prayer booklets to the faithful in the square on Sundays during the Pope's noontime prayer.

The tour and dinner was organized by the Office of Papal Charities, which regularly distributes meals to the homeless who live in Rome.

Phoebe Natanson contributed to this report from Rome.