Mozambique: Cabo Delgado, Nampula & Niassa Humanitarian Snapshot, as of August 2025
“I am going to tell Pope Francis that I wish all my brothers here get off the street”
3:51 CAT | 04 Sep 2019
Mathew 25: "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in. (...)".[All photos: A Verdade]
Nearly 200 Mozambicans with special needs, struggling with addiction, abandoned and disadvantaged by society will have the privilege of meeting Jorge Mario Bergoglio at one of the most private moments of the Holy Father’s Apostolic Visit to Mozambique.
“I will tell him that I would like all my brothers here to quit the street, to quit drugs, to have a new home to live in, to have a place to study and learn a profession,” one of the youngsters who next are to meet Pope Francis in person at “House Matthew 25” on Thursday confided to @Verdade.
Near where Malhangalene meets the populous Maxaquene neighbourhood, a new home has risen in recent days. Those who pass by do not realise that when the sun goes down the door opens and children, youngsters and adults of both sexes meet every day to talk about another day surviving in the Mozambican capital. Together, they pray, sing and have dinner.
It is a ritual which began a little over a year ago with a few dozen people gathering on the promenade of Parque dos Continuadores, a few metres from the Presidency of the Republic. Then they moved to the courtyard of the Church of Nossa Senhora das Victórias, and the group swelled to more than a hundred.
“Here we have people of various faiths, with different problems, some with university degrees, who would have everything but by coincidence and misfortune they are here and need temporary support on their journeys. There is much dependence on drugs and alcohol here,” said Monsignor Cristiano Antonietti, a man who did not intend to create a new shelter or rehabilitation centre, even though the Government has now allocated quite decent facilities to the project, just in time for the apostolic visit.
The Secretary and Chargé of the Apostolic Nunciature in Mozambique, the institution which created the “Mathew 25 Project”, explained to @Verdade that the doors will always be open for those who need comfort, a friendly shoulder and a plate of hot food. All things considered, the “House” that the Pope will inaugurate bears the name of the call which Jorge Mario Bergoglio repeatedly makes, to live intensely by what the Gospel of Matthew says in Chapter 25: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, … .”
But Monsignor Antonietti warns that participants must abide by the rules. “We never say no, it’s open to everyone but for many of them it’s impossible to come all the time because they would be doing odd jobs then, or coming here late in the afternoon when it’s still time to park cars. Coming here and not being able to smoke or indulge in any another addiction is difficult. Street people hardly accept rules, but the refuge is open until 8:00 p.m., when it closes. After this, it does not open for any reason. The restrictions are: everybody prays, everybody rises, everybody washes their hands,” he says.
Participants of the initiative, After some time, or after quitting their addictions, participants of the initiative benefit from vocational training and even reintegrate into society. “We have created occupations to give them the opportunity to find out that they are useful, that we trust and invest in them. It is a second chance,” Monsignor Antonietti tells @Verdade.
“Now that I’m meeting the Pope, it will be a blessing”
Paulo is one of the young people who feels he has received a second chance at life. He is 17 years old and told @Verdade that he “left home at 10 years old because he was beaten by someone who is not his mother”.
“My mother abandoned me with my father. I was three years old. My father loved me in his way, but when the new woman arrived, everything changed. They mistreated me. I went to school dirty, the neighbours helped me eat and sleep … I ended up living on the street.”
The young man recalls that the first contact he had with religion was at the Maná church, at the invitation of a teacher while still studying at Estrela Vermelha School. But then, “a spirit came and I stopped going to church.”
While living on the street, Paulo joined the “Mathew 25 Project” in November 2018, still on the Parque dos Continuadores promenade, where he was at least to get some food. “Afterwards I took part in the 12 steps, where we started meeting with the sisters. I opened up to them Then I went on an events design course for four months, and graduated last Friday. Now I’m back at school, learning to be a carpenter.”
“I promised the brothers that, by 2019, I would be off the street. It was a promise I made to God. I said, Lord help me, because by October 2019 I don’t want to be on the streets.” Hos prayer was heard, and Paulo was taken by a family in Matola City. “But I still come here to the group every day.”
He is excited about the visit of the Argentine Pope. “It’s a privilege, the Pope coming to Mozambique. I’ve never seen a Pope in my life,” he says.
By Adérito Caldeira
Source: A Verdade
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