Pope’s blessing brings garden to life for poor
ROME — Dozens of families have started tilling the soil and planting their first crops as a squatters’ gardening initiative takes root on Catholic Church-owned land with the tacit blessing of Pope Francis.
A few months after occupying the land in 2013, Lauri and his friends met with Francis when he celebrated Mass at a nearby parish and discussed Rome’s chronic shortage of affordable housing and land for the poor.
Francis asked his chief alms-giver, Monsignor Konrad Krajewski, to get in touch with Lauri and keep tabs on the garden project.
[...] Lauri has provided Krajewski with regular updates about the organic initiative, though he is still seeking the coveted documentation — a contract or a lease — that would regularize what is essentially an illegal occupation and use of private land.
No pesticides or herbicides, and Lauri makes spot checks of produce to make sure no one cheats.