The cardinal who broke the law and now we say the "Robin Hood of the Pope"

ROME.- Just a few days ago, in the Roman collective imagination, a cardinal was a "prince of the Church", away from the crowd and confining an elegant "palace" of the city. But it is already history, thanks to the Polish cardinal, beggar of the

Pope

That is to say the one who distributes to the most needy the gifts that the Holy Father receives from the whole world last Saturday, was the protagonist of a resounding action, of which we speak still.

At night and without any protection, "Don Corrado" – as he likes to be called beyond the crimson – came down a culvert in the meanders of a dirty Roman basement to reactivate the city. Electric power of a huge city building occupied since 2013 by 450 people, including 100 boys. They all lived in the dark, without light or hot water, for a week because the local power company had cut the service for lack of payment. Before taking such an initiative, which was to break the seals that blocked the electricity supply, Don Corrado, 55, contacted the police, the municipality, the electricity company, unsuccessfully seeking rehabilitation of the service. As nothing happened, at 8:15 pm, he left and acted.

The gesture of Don Corrado, renamed on the front page by the newspaper La Repubblica "the Robin Hood of the Pope", caused a great impact in Italy, as well as polemics. "I did not do it because I was drunk, but because it was a hopeless situation: we can not live without light, we had to do something and I have decided to do it, "explained Krajewski, a discreet worker.

For the Vatican, it was a gesture of "humanity", but the cardinal badumed full responsibility for a manifestly illegal action. And as Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior,
Matteo Salvini, leader of the far right Northern League, came to cross him and asked him to pay all the arrears (a debt of about 300,000 euros). He also promised to take care of it and, if necessary, impose fines.

"I do not want it to become something political, I'm a beggar and I worry about the poor, these families, these children," said Krajewski, who knew people in the building in question for a long time , including some patients, who depend on electrical machines to survive.

"Supporting illegal behavior is never a good sign (give to the people," said Salvini, who was in the midst of an election campaign to renew the European Parliament on May 26, also recalled that there also has many Italians "in trouble" paying for your tickets.

"I accept all my responsibility, if I am fined, I will pay, I do not need to explain, there is little to say", said the Corriere della Sera Krajewski , who recalled that the last time there had been a power outage in Rome a few hours, "was a tragedy". "Imagine what it means to run out of electricity for six days, there are nearly 500 people in this building, 100 children … We are talking about human lives," he said. "And that of this building is not the only case, in Rome, there are evicted people, families who have no place to go, who are trying to survive, Rome is So, just take a tour of the stations, if you do not understand that, try turning off the power at your place for a few hours and see what you mean, "he added.

When he was named "papal beggar" in August 2013, Francisco entrusted Krajewski with a specific mandate: "do not stay behind a desk", but go in search of the poor. And Don Corrado obeyed: we know that not only does he go out at night to give help to the homeless in Rome – they have built showers, hairdressers, a health center next to the Saint Basilica -Pierre – but also occupies families in difficulty, like those in the occupied building. Krajevski, who created a cardinal last year – a sign of Francisco – was one of the victims of the last earthquakes in Italy and last week on the island of Lesbos, Greece, to bring papal help from 100,000 euros to nearly 5,000 people. the refugees who are still there.

The
The apostolic limosnería, which works, only last year, distributes, silently, 3.5 million euros to the poor to pay their bills, rents and medicines, revealed today.
Vatican News, the Vatican's news portal. Krajevski even left his apartment to a family of Syrian refugees, transferred to the headquarters of the apostolic limosnería, also transcended.

After reactivating the light of the busy building, some claimed that before prescribing a treatment, Krajevski had been an electrician. But it was a
Fewews: "In Poland, we had a president, Lech Walesa, who was an electrician, maybe they mingled with him, but I'm not an electrician, I'm a liturgist, although the liturgists burn candles, they manage microphones, they understand something, "he said. "Robin Hood of the Pope".

His "desperate" and for many totally evangelical gesture last Saturday, of course, created controversies and negative reactions in sectors of the right – even the Roman curia – that support Salvini and criticize the pope.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state, approved it without half measure. "I saw that there were many interpretations and many controversies.I personally, I think the effort should be to understand the meaning of this gesture, which is to attract the attention of everyone on a real problem, which concerns people, children, the elderly, "he said. , very diplomat, Parolin, who stressed the "good intention" of the action, beyond its illegality.