Homeless end occupation of historic basilica in Naples after 22 days

Published: 2008-04-28

NAPLES, Italy (CNS) -- A group of 348 homeless people, including 115 children, occupied a historic basilica in Naples for 22 days, demanding that government officials find them permanent public housing. Masses at the Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, popularly known as "the Carmine," were suspended after the basilica was occupied April 4 by more than 150 people who had been forcibly removed from a building they had been occupying illegally for several years. Homeless people from other cities joined those inside the basilica and the entire group said it would not leave until public housing was found for everyone. Police ordered the homeless to leave the basilica April 26 and, while several shouted insults at the Carmelite priests whose order has staffed the parish since the 13th century, everyone went peacefully. Buses waited outside to take the homeless to temporary shelter in an unused post office on the outskirts of Naples.

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