Vatican Starts Monthly Newspapers By And With The Poor

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According to the Vatican, a new monthly edition of the Vatican newspaper has been launched with a focus on the underprivileged and marginalized, with the goal of not only sharing their stories but also incorporating them in the publication's creation and dissemination. On June 29, a special Roman holiday honoring Saints Peter and Paul, the first edition of L'Osservatore di Strada (The Street Observer), a play on the name of the official Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, was published.

The publication will now be distributed by guests to a nearby homeless shelter run by a Catholic charity on the first Sunday of each month, following Pope Francis' noon benediction in and around St. Peter's Square. The Vatican's communications office said in a statement that donations of any size would be graciously accepted.

The program is solid proof of Francis' efforts to give voice to and give importance to the experiences of underrepresented groups like the impoverished, the homeless, and migrants, as well as the volunteer organizations who support them. It is intended to encourage kids to write and illustrate their own stories using poetry, pictures, or other artistic abilities, and to give them the tools necessary to do so if necessary.

The Vatican issued a statement that read, "The Osservatore di Strada won't merely be a newspaper of the poor and for the poor, it wants to be, above all, a newspaper with the poor." The cover of the first printing is an illustration by street artist Maupal, whose graffiti depictions of Francis as the "Super Pope" and later variations have adorned buildings around the Vatican for years. Women, Church, World is a monthly publication of L'Osservatore Romano that is devoted to women.