Vatican City, Jan 8, 2017 / 07:15 am
On Sunday Pope Francis announced that his "urgent" prayer for the month of January is for all those who live on the streets with no shelter, expecially during the cold winter weather.
"During these very cold days, I think of and I invite you to think of all the people who live on the streets, affected by the cold and many times by indifference," he said Jan. 8.
"Unfortunately some didn't make it. Let us pray for them, and let us ask the Lord to warm our hearts so as to be able to help them."
The Pope made his appeal looking out over frozen St. Peter's Square and the thousands of pilgrims bundled up below the window to the Apostolic Palace.
Temperatures in Rome have made a significant drop over the past few days, lowering enough to cause the fountains inside the square to freeze over, with ice on the cobblestone beside them where the water had splashed over.