(Regarding the death of Pope Francis) In these days, Rome is a people mourning their bishop, a people together with other peoples who have lined up, … - Baldassare Reina

As quoted in Papa Francesco: card. Reina, “Roma è un popolo che piange il suo vescovo”, “l’umanità appare come pecore senza pastore”, AgenSIR (April 28, 2025)

According to recent research (March 2025) carried out by Sapienza University of Rome and promoted by the Mayor of Rome, Prof. Roberto Gualtieri, and the City Councillor for Heritage and Housing Policy, Dr. Andrea Tobia Zevi, “An approximate total of around 114,000 households can therefore be estimated as being in a fragile housing situation in Rome and, therefore, overexposed to the risk of serious housing hardship.” This total includes “households in situations of serious emergency, identified as special populations: around 22,000 families”. All this in the presence of approximately 160-200,000 empty and unused private apartments! The problem is complex and has deep roots. It certainly does not help to note that in certain large suburban areas, there are reports of publicly owned dwellings that are uninhabited and awaiting allocation, These are easily exposed to possible squatting, often colluding with criminal activities in the area, such as drug dealing and prostitution. They are sometimes in poor condition, in need of structural renovation, or have many architectural barriers or non-functioning lifts, which isolate the many elderly people who live there alone and many disabled people.
Meanwhile, “short-term” rentals are rampant, yielding much higher returns for landlords than “long-term” rentals, i.e. regular rental contracts, and are disrupting the social fabric of many neighbourhoods, not only in the centre. In July 2024, the Istat report indicated that in ten years, the resident population in the First Municipality had fallen by 38%, i.e. more than 20,000 people had moved elsewhere. Meanwhile, the number of short-term rentals on the web reached 35,000, including holiday homes and mini-apartments, without taking into account the irregular market.

Papa Francesco in questi anni di Pontificato ha dato un forte rilievo alla dimensione “cattolica” (universale) della Chiesa favorendo, anche nella composizione del collegio cardinalizio, la presenza di pastori provenienti da tutto il mondo. Il fatto che anche per la Sua Diocesi abbia voluto un Cardinale non contraddice questa linea, anzi la rafforza poiché Roma è chiamata a presiedere la comunione e la carità di tutte le Chiesa. Nella Diocesi di Roma il carattere universale della Chiesa e quello particolare si incontrano in modo speciale. Anche per questo motivo la vicinanza di Papa Francesco, non solo alla mia persona ma a tutta la Chiesa è una grazia.