In Chile, the world’s first mobile shelter for the homeless makes its debut

A HIGH-RANKING Vatican official, known to be a conservative in doctrinal matters, recently confided to a visitor that—even as Pope Francis continues to come under fire for a perceived lack of clarity when it comes to Church teaching—what really is winning him over is the Pope’s steadfast love of the poor, his insistence that a Christian’s first duty is to love his or her neighbor who is suffering.

This duty to love the poor—the mentally or physically disabled, the outcast, the stranger, the homeless, the person at the margin of society—was the theme of Pope Francis’s first Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, the “Joy of the Gospel.”

“Works of love directed to one's neighbor,” the Pontiff wrote, “are the most perfect external manifestation of the interior grace of the Spirit… [and] there is an inseparable bond between our faith and the poor. May we never abandon them.”

More and more, local Churches around the world are taking their cue from this papacy’s deeply pastoral emphasis, developing more programs that allow those who have much to share their bounty with those who are deprived.

On that front, Archbishop Fernando Chomali of Concepción, Chile has launched a unique initiative: a mobile shelter—called Alberguemóvil La Misericordia, the “Mercy Mobile Shelter.” The archdiocese raised money from local businesses, automotive designers,

 and trade unions to outfit a passenger bus with four beds, a couple of showers, and other amenities. The mobile shelter pulls up every evening at the city’s Independence square and opens its doors for the homeless.

Volunteers make sure the visitors are taken care of and graciously received into an atmosphere that treats them in accordance with their human dignity, offering them kindness and respect. “More than providing a service,” said Archbishop Chomali, “we deliver dignity.” He insists that the unique mobile shelter is not merely a “favor” to the city’s homeless, but that it represents “a labor of justice.”

He continued: “They say that we are a developed country, but there are people on the street,” and it is a Christian’s duty to make up for the gap that separates rich and poor. That perspective echoes Pope Francis’ insistence that, ultimately, the Church is called to help “eliminate the structural causes of poverty and to promote the integral development of the poor.”

 

That major effort, says the Pope, goes hand-in-hand with “small daily acts of solidarity in meeting the real needs which we encounter.” The Mercy Mobile Shelter does its part and does so remarkably effectively. One of the mobile shelter volunteers, Natalia del Pino, a university student, said that the shelter team welcomes the homeless “with simple warmth,” adding that “it’s not hard to enter.” Undoubtedly, the Mercy Mobile Shelter will be a particularly strong draw on cold nights.

Luz Clarita, who takes advantage of the shelter’s hospitality, reports: “Here, they tell us stories. And they listen to us.” Ana, another visitor, stresses: “we feel very fortunate and give thanks to the Archbishop.” A local news show reported that the Mercy Mobile Shelter “connects a great number of people who are ready to help” with homeless men and women, who are “seeking just a few hours of comfort, a hot shower and some sleep.”

The concept of a mobile homeless shelter may well catch on in major cities across Chile and beyond its borders. One can even imagine such an approach in major urban centers in the United States. The Mercy Mobile Shelter also has great symbolic value in impressing upon passers-by to do something personally to relieve the plight of the poor.

Again, as the Pope has written, “almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people's pain, and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else's responsibility and not our own.”

The Pope makes the case that, as the poor “know the sufferings of Christ … [we] need to let ourselves be evangelized by them.” In Concepción, Chile, the Mercy Mobile Shelter is a modest flagship for the fundamental thrust of this papacy.

Archbishop Chomali’s groundbreaking initiative makes manifest the message of the Church’s first World Day of the Poor, scheduled for Nov. 19, 2017, with Pope Francis proclaiming: “We are called, then, to draw near to the poor, to encounter them, to meet their gaze, to embrace them and to let them feel the warmth of love that breaks through their solitude. Their outstretched hand is also an invitation to step out of our certainties and comforts, and to acknowledge the value of poverty in itself.”

The “Mercy Mobile Shelter” video is only available in Spanish.