'I smell' confession leads Pope Francis to install showers for homeless at St Peter's Square 
 
 Updated 
 
 Pope Francis has ordered the installation of showers for the homeless next to St Peter's Square after a street dweller declared himself too smelly to eat with a bishop. 
 
 In an initiative sparked by one of his closest aides' encounter with a homeless person on the streets of Rome, the pontiff has given his blessing to an upgrade of public toilets intended to serve the millions of pilgrims and visitors who flock to the Vatican every year. 
 
 Work will begin next year to install three showers to enable the homeless in the area to wash themselves and their clothes just metres from where the Pope lives in his modest apartment. 
 
 The Basilica exists in order to keep the Body of Christ, and we serve Jesus's suffering body by serving the poor. Archbishop Konrad Krajewski 
 
 Similar initiatives are already underway at 10 parishes across Rome at the bidding of Konrad Krajewski, a Polish bishop who currently serves as the Pope's official almoner - the person in charge of delivering charity to the poor. 
 
 Mr Krajewski, who remains widely known as father Konrad despite his lofty position, launched his initiative after a chance meeting with a homeless man from Sardinia, on one of the main streets leading to St Peter's in October. 
 
 The archbishop had just come from hearing confessions in the Church of the Holy Spirit and was strolling down the Via della Conciliazione when he bumped into the man. 
 
 "He told me that he was turning 50 that day and that he had been living on the street for 10 years," Mr Krajewski recalled in an interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa. 
 
 Moved by the meeting, Mr Krajewski issued an impromptu invitation to dinner which his new acquaintance initially declined, saying simply: "Puzzo" (I Smell). 
 
 Clerical persuasion prevailed however and over a Chinese meal, the man explained that while Rome was good at ensuring the homeless do not go hungry, staying clean was more complicated. 
 
 Mr Krajewski promptly sprung into action. 
 
 A construction firm volunteered to install the showers in parishes that did not already have them and a substantial donation from celebrated Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli also helped. 
 
 The bishop insisted he did not care if well-off visitors to the Vatican did not like sharing the toilets with the homeless. 
 
 "The Basilica exists in order to keep the Body of Christ, and we serve Jesus's suffering body by serving the poor," he said, echoing Pope Francis's statement on his appointment that he wanted the church to be a "poor church, for the poor." 
 
 AFP 
 
 Topics: religion-and-beliefs, community-and-society, homelessness, holy-see-vatican-city-state 
 
 First posted ||||| After Pope Francis got a cake and an impromptu tango flash mob for his 78th birthday Wednesday, he made sure Rome’s homeless got a gift, too -- sleeping bags emblazoned with the papal coat of arms. 
 
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 The pontiff donated 400 of the sleeping bags to homeless people in the Italian capital, the Vatican said, continuing his tradition of helping the poor on his birthday. 
 
 Members of the pope’s famed Swiss Guard and volunteers handed out hundreds of the sleeping bags Wednesday evening, stopping at railway stations and an area near a cemetery frequented by the homeless. 
 
 “This is a gift for you from the pope on the occasion of his birthday,” they said as they passed out the sleeping bags, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. 
 
 Francis, who is known for his humble, charitable lifestyle, also greeted eight homeless people bearing sunflowers during his Wednesday general audience. 
 
 He marked his birthday last year by sharing breakfast and attending Mass with four homeless people. On Wednesday, he received more than 1,700 pounds of chicken meat the Vatican said would be distributed to soup kitchens. 
 
 His chief alms-giver often carries out acts of charity in Francis’ name. The Vatican has started work on three showers for the homeless just off St. Peter’s Square after the Pope requested they be built, has given out checks to those in need across Rome -- and even has enlisted off-duty Swiss Guards to drive a stranded person home. 
 
 Francis has reinvigorated the office of the Vatican almoner, entrusting the almoner, Konrad Krajewski, with hitting the streets daily in his name on mini-missions to help the poor. 
 
 Krajewski told journalists last year that each morning, the pope sends him bundles of letters he has received from the faithful, along with notes like, “You know what to do,” or, “Go find them.” 
 
 The Associated Press contributed to this report. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Pope Francis washes the feet of prisoners in a youth detention centre 
 
 Pope Francis has washed the feet of prisoners in a youth detention centre near Rome as part of the Maundy Thursday service. 
 
 The Christian ritual takes place on the Thursday before Easter to commemorate Christ's Last Supper. 
 
 Thousands of pilgrims and tourists are arriving in Rome to attend ceremonies during the holy week ahead of Easter. 
 
 In a homily, the Pope earlier urged priests to do less "soul-searching" and engage more with parishioners. 
 
 "It is not in soul-searching... that we encounter the Lord," he told hundreds of cardinals, priests and bishops in St Peter's Basilica. 
 
 "We need to go out... to the outskirts where there is suffering, bloodshed, blindness that longs for sight and prisoners in thrall to many evil masters." 
 
 Worshippers should "leave Mass looking as if they had heard good news", he added. 
 
 Gesture of humility 
 
 During Thursday's intimate service at Casal del Marmo, the Pope washed and kissed the feet of 12 young detainees to replicate the Bible's account of Jesus Christ's gesture of humility towards his 12 apostles on the night before he was crucified. 
 
 The 12 inmates included two girls, one Italian Catholic and one of Muslim origin, local prison ombudsman Angiolo Marroni said ahead of the ceremony. 
 
 Some of the prisoners volunteered to have their feet washed, while others were given an invitation to help them overcome their embarrassment, the Catholic News Agency quoted the prison chaplain as saying. 
 
 The pontiff told inmates that Jesus had washed the feet of his disciples in a gesture of service, Vatican Radio reported. 
 
 Image caption Media access was restricted during the ceremony because many of the inmates were minors 
 
 "If the Lord has washed his disciples' feet, you should do the same," he is quoted as saying. 
 
 After the ritual, Pope Francis gave Communion to the inmates and prison workers. 
 
 In total, around 10 girls and 40 boys from different nationalities and diverse religious confessions were taking part in Thursday's Mass. 
 
 The new leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics has brought a new sense of simplicity to the Vatican, reports the BBC's David Willey in Rome. 
 
 He has broken with tradition for the foot-washing ceremony, which is normally performed on lay people in one of Rome's basilicas. 
 
 Pope Benedict XVI visited the Casal del Marmo centre in 2007, but not for the Holy Thursday Mass. Only for the first two years of his pontificate did he perform the feet-washing himself, after which the task was delegated to priests. 
 
 Easter is the most important festival in the calendar of the Catholic Church. 
 
 On Good Friday evening the Pope will carry a wooden cross and pray at a ceremony at Rome's ancient amphitheatre, the Colosseum, commemorating Jesus' crucifixion. 
 
 On Saturday evening Pope Francis will celebrate the main Easter Vigil Mass in St Peter's Basilica. 
 
 And on Easter Sunday morning, the new Pope will deliver his first "Urbi et Orbi" message to the city of Rome and to the world. 
 
 During his inaugural general audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis called for an immediate political solution to the conflict in the Central African Republic after last weekend's coup.
– Pope Francis made headlines last year when he said that he would like a "poor church, and for the poor." Now, after a man declined an invitation to dine with a bishop because, the man said simply, "puzzo"—or "I smell"—the pope is installing three public showers at St. Peter's Square to allow the homeless and any pilgrim or visitor to wash themselves or their clothes. Konrad Krajewski, a Polish bishop who's in charge of delivering charity to the poor, was apparently strolling down the Via della Conciliazione after hearing confessions in the Church of the Holy Spirit when he crossed paths with a homeless man. "He told me that he was turning 50 that day and that he had been living on the street for 10 years," the bishop, affectionately called "Father Konrad," tells Italian newspaper La Stampa. Though the man initially declined an invitation to dinner, the two eventually talked over Chinese food, and the man said that while he found Rome to be good about feeding the hungry, it was difficult to find a place to wash. The pope gave Konrad the go-ahead to add showers, and a construction firm volunteered to install them, including one just feet from the pope's apartment. Tenor Andrea Bocelli also pitched in with a "substantial" donation, reports ABC News. As for whether the well-heeled dislike sharing toilets with the homeless, the bishop says, "The Basilica exists in order to keep the Body of Christ, and we serve Jesus' suffering body by serving the poor." (See why Pope Francis also recently called for the end of life sentences.)