A group of around 150 Romanian Roma citizens, evicted this week from their shacks Casal Bruciato by the City of Rome, took refuge on Good Friday at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, in the territory of the Holy See. This morning, as the Pope from St. Peter exhorted Europeans to welcome refugees from Libya, Africa and the Middle East, Gypsy families were divided, and about thirty women and Roma ethnic Romanian children recovering from last night the open, in the rain, the park adjacent to the Basilica of San Pablo.
Inside, the priest celebrated Mass on Easter without reference to the Gypsies, who on Saturday were unable to attend the vigil because the Vatican gendarmerie officers were denied entry into the temple. The doors of the basilica was closed between the protests of some believers and shouts of "shame, shame." "It was inhumane and unacceptable," commented NGO members who came to show solidarity with the homeless.
"The police leaked the Vatican to the basilica. Not the Roma, including women and children, not the other activists and pilgrims." What seemed would be an ecumenical Easter and several resulted in scenes of tension and confusion. Some faithful Italian and foreign, to the segregation, chose not to enter the basilica.
The mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, fully committed to its policy of forced evictions without alternative care grant, promised 500 euros for the Roma family who agreed to be repatriated to Romania, and the Cardinal Vicar, Agostino Vallini, joined the initiative, adding 500 euros. Of the 150 refugees, only 23 agreed to be repatriated, 11 adults and 12 children.
The other one hundred were last Saturday night and Sunday largely divided into two groups: 80 were in the premises of the Basilica, Vatican guarded by agents, and thirty women and children slept and ate Easter eggs in the garden next door . This evening have come in buses to a local Caritas and the Pope has sent through the replacement of Secretary of State a message of support in which the Roma has expressed his personal closeness.
The Vatican has also issued a note in which he says he hopes the availability of Caritas anticipate "will settle down properly." Nicoletta, mother of two children, aged 23, in Italy for six, explained the situation: "Our husbands are inside and outside us. They want to separate us and force us to return to Romania, but we've been here a long time and our children were born here .
Are we not entitled to a house, a job and a college? ". A banner reading "City Hall and the Vatican, we remain human" was hanged yesterday at the fence of the basilica. Inside, the priest Enrico Feroci, director of Caritas Rome, tried to apologize for what happened: "We are looking for a solution, we move them all together to a local Caritas in Rome.
But we are at Easter and it is not easy." The priest does not believe that the Vatican has done wrong. "At all times the vicar told that they are in Vatican territory, and that'll take them. We respect your right to be with family but we can not let those who have gone out because we do not know if the same group or not, and that would not be a rule of law but a state of force.
" The remuneration of 500 euros, Feroci denies that there is an "invitation" to leave. "It's just an act of charity, some wanted to leave his country and tried to help them." "We do not know anything about Romania," said the young Nicoletta. "They want nothing from us. Here again, we are the bad and every so often we throw in our slums, but even so it is easier to find a job." According to data from the Community of San Egidio in Rome, there are currently some 8,500 citizens of Roma and Sinti, 6,500 of them in legal camps.
"A ridiculous figure," says Paolo Ciani, "which is unbearable only because the council has decided to expel them from the slums to the streets, forgetting that they are entitled to be rehoused." Caritas note explained that the solution to the refugees was taken without informing the City Council.
Alemanno has replicated it will continue with its policy of dismantling illegal encampments. 
Inside, the priest celebrated Mass on Easter without reference to the Gypsies, who on Saturday were unable to attend the vigil because the Vatican gendarmerie officers were denied entry into the temple. The doors of the basilica was closed between the protests of some believers and shouts of "shame, shame." "It was inhumane and unacceptable," commented NGO members who came to show solidarity with the homeless.
"The police leaked the Vatican to the basilica. Not the Roma, including women and children, not the other activists and pilgrims." What seemed would be an ecumenical Easter and several resulted in scenes of tension and confusion. Some faithful Italian and foreign, to the segregation, chose not to enter the basilica.
The mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, fully committed to its policy of forced evictions without alternative care grant, promised 500 euros for the Roma family who agreed to be repatriated to Romania, and the Cardinal Vicar, Agostino Vallini, joined the initiative, adding 500 euros. Of the 150 refugees, only 23 agreed to be repatriated, 11 adults and 12 children.
The other one hundred were last Saturday night and Sunday largely divided into two groups: 80 were in the premises of the Basilica, Vatican guarded by agents, and thirty women and children slept and ate Easter eggs in the garden next door . This evening have come in buses to a local Caritas and the Pope has sent through the replacement of Secretary of State a message of support in which the Roma has expressed his personal closeness.
The Vatican has also issued a note in which he says he hopes the availability of Caritas anticipate "will settle down properly." Nicoletta, mother of two children, aged 23, in Italy for six, explained the situation: "Our husbands are inside and outside us. They want to separate us and force us to return to Romania, but we've been here a long time and our children were born here .
Are we not entitled to a house, a job and a college? ". A banner reading "City Hall and the Vatican, we remain human" was hanged yesterday at the fence of the basilica. Inside, the priest Enrico Feroci, director of Caritas Rome, tried to apologize for what happened: "We are looking for a solution, we move them all together to a local Caritas in Rome.
But we are at Easter and it is not easy." The priest does not believe that the Vatican has done wrong. "At all times the vicar told that they are in Vatican territory, and that'll take them. We respect your right to be with family but we can not let those who have gone out because we do not know if the same group or not, and that would not be a rule of law but a state of force.
" The remuneration of 500 euros, Feroci denies that there is an "invitation" to leave. "It's just an act of charity, some wanted to leave his country and tried to help them." "We do not know anything about Romania," said the young Nicoletta. "They want nothing from us. Here again, we are the bad and every so often we throw in our slums, but even so it is easier to find a job." According to data from the Community of San Egidio in Rome, there are currently some 8,500 citizens of Roma and Sinti, 6,500 of them in legal camps.
"A ridiculous figure," says Paolo Ciani, "which is unbearable only because the council has decided to expel them from the slums to the streets, forgetting that they are entitled to be rehoused." Caritas note explained that the solution to the refugees was taken without informing the City Council.
Alemanno has replicated it will continue with its policy of dismantling illegal encampments.
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