Pope Francis celebrates 86th birthday, presents awards for charitable acts
- The Pope presented three Mother Teresa Prizes – the nun, who died in 1997, worked among the poorest people in India and founded the Missionaries of Charity
- They went to a homeless man who shares his alms, a Syrian Franciscan priest and an Italian industrialist who builds schools and brings clean water to the poor
Pope Francis marked his 86th birthday on Saturday by rewarding three people involved in charity work, including a homeless man who gives other street dwellers part of the alms he receives.
The Pope gave the three the Mother Teresa Prize as recognition for their different forms of charity. The nun, who died in 1997, worked among the poorest people in India and founded the Missionaries of Charity.
The homeless man was identified by the Vatican only by his first name, Gian Piero and his street name, Wué.
The other two honoured were Franciscan priest Hanna Jallouf, a Syrian who works in his country, and Italian industrialist Silvano Pedrollo for his work in building schools and bringing clean drinking water to the poor in developing countries.
Francis gave them the prize, a small globe of the world in a cube-shaped frame with an image of Mother Teresa holding a child, at a ceremony in the Vatican.