Pope Francis has offered hospitality to a homeless Romanian woman who gave birth to a child at one of the entries in St. Peter’s Square. According to media reports, the woman gave birth to a healthy little girl on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, with help from the police.

The woman and her child were then admitted to the nearby Santo Spirito hospital immediately after the birth, and are doing well, Vatican Radio reports. Later on, Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, the Papal Almoner, visited the woman in the hospital and offered her a place to stay for a year, at a Vatican-owned facility for mothers with children in one of Rome's suburbs.

The woman, who was one of the homeless who live close to the St. Peter’s Basilica, was known to the Vatican as she was sometimes using the facilities provided to the homeless by Pope Francis.

The Office of Papal Charities has also given special assistance to the new mother’s partner, who is also Romanian. The couple has also been to France and Spain, from where they left on foot some four months ago, according to the woman's partner. The two also had a child in Spain, who is now in Romania, according to Mediafax. If they didn't receive shelter in Rome, they were planning to go to the UK.

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Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Wikipedia)