The car will be used daily to help homeless families.
Pope Francis opted for a blue Skoda rather than a stretch limousine during his brief visit to Dublin at the weekend, and that car will now be used for a different purpose.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said that the Skoda will be donated to Crosscare; the social care agency of the Archdiocese of Dublin.
In a statement released on Monday, Archbishop Martin notes that the car will be used by staff in their Mater Dei homeless hub.
Crosscare staff currently assist homeless families in trying to move on from the temporary facility in the hub to more secure and long term accommodation.
Since the hub opened, 100 families have moved through the temporary system. At any one time, as many as 50 families are located in the hub as they seek housing.
As each family moves on, another is waiting to take their place as the homelessness crisis continues to worsen in Dublin.
Archbishop Martin says the Skoda will now used on a daily basis.
Director of Crosscare Conor Hickey said that he was “delighted” with the donation and hopes that families would find the gesture from Pope Francis as a form of “some comfort in that they were constantly remembered by him”.
Speaking at the World Meeting of Families in the RDS last week, Hickey said the homeless crisis in the city has reached huge proportions and was now at a level that was unheard of three years ago.
He said that the crisis was now defined by families, “people very much like you or I who, because of economic factors beyond their control, have found themselves in a housing market where there are no available houses.”
The Skoda car will be given over to Crosscare in the coming days. They will not be able to keep the number plate on the car – SCV 1 – which stands for ‘Stato della Citta del Vaticano’ or ‘Vatican City’.
In the wake of the Pope’s visit to Ireland, the Pontifex has promised to study a memo he received from Minister for Children Katharine Zappone regarding the 796 babies that were found dead in the mother-and-child home in Tuam.
“For me, this was an example of constructive collaboration, but also of, I don’t want to say the word “protest” … of complaint, of complaint for that which at one time maybe the Church was of help to do,” said Pope Francis.
“That lady had a dignity that touched my heart, and now I have the memo there that I will study when I get home.”
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