The News

Pope Pays to Rent Beach Space for Disabled Youths

Pope Francis speaks in the Basilica of St. Bartholomew in Rome, Saturday, April 22, 2017, as he celebrates the Liturgy of the Word in memory of the martyrs of the 20th and 21st centuries

VATICAN CITY – The papal almsgiver has made a donation, in the name of Pope Francis, to cover the annual rent for a beach area near Rome used by disabled youths.

The Madonnina, an association that runs the beach establishment near Rome without barriers for the disabled, in a statement Tuesday announced the donation for the area just outside the town of Fiumicino. No money figure was cited.

Past charity initiatives by Pope Francis have included day-trips to the beach for homeless people.