At Mass in housing projects and tourist hotspots, Romans pray next pope focuses on poverty and peace

ROME — At Masses in Rome's housing projects and in the heart of its tourist district, the faithful prayed Sunday for the upcoming conclave that will elect Pope Francis ' successor.

Whether in the squat 1980s concrete church of San Paolo della Croce, next to a notorious public housing project, or facing millennium-old golden mosaics in Santa Maria in Trastevere, Catholics shared two main hopes for the church's future.

Young and old, Romans and migrants alike said they would like the next pontiff to make faith accessible to those on the margins and help bring peace to a world they see as teeming with dangers.

Next pope should focus on poor

Michele Cufaro said he prays the next pope will ''focus on the poor, poverty, eliminate hatred, meanness and wars, and re-educate the youth … who are getting totally lost.''

The glass and metalworker first lived in the Corviale projects across the street – a multistory grey public housing block that snakes on a hilltop for more than 3,100 feet (1 km) – when it was built in the early 1980s. He said he knows firsthand the reality of poverty, addiction and exclusion that continues to plague many of its residents.

''I come to entrust myself to a higher power, for the things that I can't solve myself,'' Cufaro said after Mass at San Paolo as tears welled in his eyes remembering Francis' outreach.

The pontiff, who died on April 21 at age 88, visited the parish in 2018, and comforted a child worried about whether his recently deceased atheist father would be in in heaven.

‘We need a pope who comes to visit us'

''We need a pope who comes to visit us, to see the situation,'' said Ida Di Giovannantonio, who recalled meeting Francis on that visit.

She said she cried every day when she moved to the projects four decades ago, when she was in her 40s, and only felt safe going to the parish.

''It's been a place of refuge. The poor need welcoming and love,'' said Di Giovannantonio, who's also volunteered with the church's food bank. On Sunday, a shopping cart stood by the church's entrance with a sign encouraging the faithful to leave food donations.

Continuing Francis' legacy

Less than 10 kilometers (6 miles) away but in a different socioeconomic world, at Santa Maria in the riverside neighborhood of Trastevere, Lisa Remondino said she hopes the next pope will continue Francis' legacy, especially in helping migrants.

''I hope it will be a welcoming pope, and also a pope who has the courage to fight for peace. He was the only voice we had against war, the powerful, and arms,'' said the kindergarten teacher, who belongs to the Catholic charity Sant'Egidio that has worked closely with Francis to help migrants and refugees.

One of the cardinals considered top contenders to succeed him, the Rev. Matteo Zuppi of Rome, has served in various capacities both at Sant'Egidio and close-by Santa Maria, whose foundation dates to the 3rd century.

In the outside portico decorated with ancient marble inscriptions and swarming with tourists, Marta Finati said she hoped that the church would continue to respect dogmas, but also be open to the wider society.

The next pope should embrace a moral and political leadership for peace that would provide a ''reference point'' for non-Catholics too, she added.

Rushing to change into an altar server robes at Sunday afternoon's Mass at Santa Maria, Mathieu Dansoko, who came to Italy from Mali a decade ago, said coming to church is ''like being with your family.''

''The next pope should have the basic courage to bring the neediest from the peripheries to the center,'' he said.

Losing Francis a ‘big blow'

Back on the periphery of Corviale, the parish priest, the Rev. Roberto Cassano, said losing Francis was ''a big blow'' for his congregation because Pope Francis' visit had ''interrupted for a moment the marginalization of these people.''

''We need to get back a bit to God,'' he added in the tidy rose garden between the church and the housing block that packs in more than 1,500 families. ''So much meanness, so much egoism, so much selfishness is the fruit also of the lack of God's presence in people's lives. … Different social problems would still exist, but a little less acute.''

At Sunday morning Mass, several faithful stopped by the last pew to greet an occasional visitor – Cardinal Oswald Gracias of India, who was in Rome for the conclave gatherings, though having turned 80 at the end of last year, he can no longer cast a vote.

Upon election, each cardinal gets a ''titular'' parish in Rome, and on Sunday many celebrated Mass at theirs. In his homily, Gracias mentioned the different legacies of the last three popes – St. John Paul II's ''world-changing'' geopolitical impacts, Benedict XVI's scholarship, and Francis' pastoral care. He urged the more than 100 faithful to ''pray that the Holy Spirit may give us a pope who meets the needs of the times.''

Elisabetta Bonifazi, who finds in San Paolo her ''point of reference,'' said in a world rife with ''wars and contradictions,'' the new pope will need all the divine guidance and prayers.

''He will have to keep carrying this burden forward,'' she said. ''We're in an extremely difficult moment.''

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