Pope Francis honored three people, including a homeless man, with the “Mother Teresa Award”

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The Pontiff celebrated his 86th birthday today

Pope Francis celebrated today the His 86th birthday rewarding three people for their charity work, including a homeless man, who donates part of the alms he receives to other homeless people.

The pope honored with “Mother Teresa Award” these three citizens in recognition of their different forms of philanthropy.

Mother Teresa, was an Indo-Albanian Catholic nun and founder of the “Apostles of Charity” order, who developed many years of humanitarian action and missionary work, especially in India, died in 1997.

The homeless man awarded was identified by the Vatican only by his first name–Gianpiero and by the nickname by which he is known among the homeless, We.

The other two honorees are Franciscan priest Hana Zalouf, a Syrian working in his homeland, and Italian industrialist Silvano Petrolo for his work building schools and bringing drinking water to the poor in developing countries.

Their Francis presented the award, a small globe inside a cube-shaped frame with the image of Mother Teresa holding a child, during a ceremony held in the Vatican.

At the ceremony, Pope kissed the homeless man’s hand and one of the nuns of the order founded by Mother Teresa placed a garland of flowers around the pope’s neck.

In a separate event, students from a seminary in Rome presented the pope with a birthday cake. No special events are planned to celebrate the pontiff’s birthday.

Francis was born in Buenos Aires in 1936 Mrand his real name is Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Next March will mark the first decade since his ascension to the head of the world’s 1.3 billion Roman Catholics.

RES-EMP

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